THE BEIDGEWATER TEEATISES 



POWER, WISDOM, AND GOODNESS OF GOD, AS MANIFESTED 
IN THE CREATION. 



ASTEONOMY AND GENEEAL PHYSICS CONSIDEEED 
WITH EEFEEENCE TO NATUEAL THEOLOGY. 



By WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D. 



SEVENTH EDITION. 



ET HiEC DE DEO, DE QUO UTIQUE EX PH^NOMENIS DISSEEEEE AD 
PHILOSOPHIAM NATURALEM PERTINET. 

NE^yTOi^, Conclusion of the Principia. 



ASTRONOMY 



GENERAL PHYSICS 



CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO 



NATUEAL THEOLOGY. 



WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D. 

MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE AND PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY 
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. 



LONDON" : 

H. G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
1852. 



LONDON : 

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFEIARS. 



transfer frot. 
pat. 0««* I-i^' 



TO 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND 

CHAELES JAJ^IES, 
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. 

My Lord, 

I owe it to you that I was selected for the task 
|L ali:empted in the following pages, a distinction which I feel 
be honourable ; and on this account alone I should have 
I a peculiar pleasure in dedicating the work to your Lordship. 
I do so with additional gratification on another account : 
the Treatise has been written within the walls of the College 
of which your Lordship was formerly a resident member, 
and its merits, if it have any, are mainly due to the spirit 
and habits of the place. The society is always pleased and 
proud to recollect that a person of the eminent talents and 
high character of your Lordship is one of its members ; and 
I am persuaded that any effort in the cause of letters and 
religion coming from that quarter, will ha^e for you an 
interest beyond what it would otherwise possess. 

The subject proposed to me was limited ; my prescribed 
object is to lead the friends of religion to look with confidence 



vi 



DEDICATION. 



and pleasure on the progress of the physical sciences, by 
showing how admirably every advance in our knowledge of 
the universe harmonizes with the belief of a most wise and 
good Grod. To do this effectually may be, I trust, a useful 
labour. Yet, I feel most deeply, what I would take this 
occasion to express, that this, and all that the speculator 
concerning Natural Theology can do, is utterly insufficient 
for the great ends of Eeligion ; namely, for the purpose of 
reforming men's lives, of purifying and elevating their 
characters, of preparing them for a more exalted state of 
being. It is the need of something fitted to do this, which 
gives to Eeligion its vast and incomparable importance ; and 
this can, I well know, be achieved only by that Eevealed 
Eeligion of which we are ministers, but on which the plan 
of the present work did not allow me to dwell. 

That Divine Providence may prosper the labours of your 
Lordship and of all who are joined with you in the task of 
maintaining and promoting this Eeligion, is, my Lord, the 
earnest wish and prayer of 

Tour very faithful 

and much obliged Servant, 

WILLIAM WHEWELL. 



Trinity College, Cambridge, 
Fel. 25 1833, 



CONTENTS. 

[Within the last few years, several works have been published in this country on 
subjects more or less closely approaching to that here treated. It naay, therefore, 
be not superfluous to say that the Author of the following pages believes that he 
has not borrowed any of his views or illustrations from recent English writers 
on Natural Theology.] 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION. 

I. Object of the present Treatise 1 

II. On Laws of Nature 5 

III. Mutual Adaptation of Laws of Nature .... 9 

IV. Division of the Subject 12 

BOOK 1. 

TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS 14 

L The Length of the Year 18 

IL The Length of the Day 28 

III. The Mass of the Earth 35 

IV. The Magnitude of the Ocean 44 

V. The Magnitude of the Atmosphere . . . ..45 

VI. The Constancy and Variety of Climates . , .47 
VII. The Variety of Organization corresponding to the Variety 

of Climate 53 

VIII. The Constituents of Climate 64 

The Laws of Heat with respect to the Earth . . . 65 
IX. The Laws of Heat with respect to Water . . , .68 

X. The Laws of Heat with respect to Air . . . . 82 

XI. The Laws of Electricity 94 

XII. The Laws of Magnetism 96 

XIIL The Properties of Light with regard to Vegetation . .98 

XIV. Sound iQQ 

XV. The Atmosphere . . . . . . „ .*107 

XVL Light ' . " . ' 109 

XVIL The Ether ^ . . ^ 

XVIII. Recapitulation . . , , , 121 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



EOOK IL 

PAGE 

COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS 126 

I. The Structure of the Solar System . , . . . 128 
II. The Circular Orbits of the Planets round the Sun . .131 

III. The Stability of the Solar System . . . . . 136 

IV. The Sun in the Centre 145 

V. The Satellites • ... 148 

VI. The Stability of the Ocean 151 

. VII. The Nebular Hypothesis 154 

VIII. The Existence of a Resisting Medium in the Solar System 164 

IX, Mechanical Laws . 180 

X. The Law of Gravitation 184 

XI. The Laws of Motion 198 

XIL Friction 205 



BOOK III. 

RELIGIOUS VIEWS 216 

1. The Creator of the Physical World is the Governor of the 

Moral World . . 219 

II, On the Vastness of the Universe 231 

III. On Man's Place in the Universe 240 

IV. On the Impression produced by the Contemplation of 

Laws of Nature ; or, on the Conviction that Law 

implies Mind 253 

V. On Inductive Habits ; or, on the Impression produced on 

Men s Minds by discovering Laws of Nature . .261 
VI. On Deductive Habits ; or, on the Impression produced on 
Men's Minds by tracing the Consequences of ascertained 

Laws 278 

VII. On Final Causes . . . . , ' , . .294 

VIIL On the Physical Agency of the Deity 306 

IX, On the Impression produced by considering the Nature 
and Prospects of Science ; or, on the Impossibility of 
the Progress of our Knowledge ever enabling us to 
comprehend the Nature of the Deity .... 314 



ON 

ASTRONOMY AND GENERAL 
PHYSICS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Chap. L — Ohject of the Present Treatise. 

The examination of the material world brings before 
us a number of things and relations of things which 
suggest to most minds the belief of a creating and 
presiding Intelligence. And this impression, which 
arises with the most vague and superficial consideration 
of the objects by which we are surrounded, is, we con- 
ceive, confirmed and expanded by a more exact and 
profomid study of external nature. Many works have 
been written at different times with the view of showing 
how our knowledge of the elements and their operation, 
of plants and animals and their construction, may serve 
to nourish and unfold our idea of a Creator and Governor 
of the world. But though this is the case, a new work 
on the same subject may still have its use. Our views 



2 



INTRODUCTION. 



of the Creator and Governor of the world, as collected 
from, or combmed with, our views of the world itself, 
undergo modifications, as we are led by new discoveries, 
new generalisations, to regard nature in a new light. 
The conceptions concerning the Deity, his mode of 
effecting his purposes, the scheme of his government, 
which are suggested by one stage of our knowledge of 
natural objects and operations, may become manifestly 
imperfect or incongruous, if adhered to and applied at 
a later period, when our acquaintance with the imme- 
diate causes of natural events has been greatly extended. 
On this account it may be interesting, after such an 
advance, to show how the views of the creation, preser- 
vation, and government of the universe, which natural 
science opens to us, harmonise with our belief in a 
Creator, Governor, and Preserver of the world. To 
do this with respect to certain departments of Natural 
Philosophy is the object of the following pages; and 
the author will deem himself fortunate, if he succeeds 
in removing any of the difficulties and obscurities 
which prevail in men's minds, from the want of a clear 
mutual understanding between the religious and the 
scientific speculator. It is needless here to remark 
the necessarily imperfect and scanty character of 
Natural Eeligion; for most persons will allow that, 
however imperfect may be the knowledge of a Supreme 
Intelligence which we gather from the contemplation 
of the natural world, it is still of most essential use and 
value. And our purpose on this occasion is, not to 
show that Natural Theology is a perfect and satisfac- 
tory scheme, but to bring up our Natural Theology to 



OBJECT. 



3 



the point of view in wiiich it may be contemplated by 
the aid of our Natural Philosophy. 

Now the peculiar point of ^iew which at present 
belongs to Natural Philosophy, and especially to the 
departments of it which have been most successfully 
cultivated, is, that nature, so far as it is an object of 
scientific research, is a collection of facts governed by 
latvs : our knowledge of nature is our Imowledge of 
laws ; of laws of operation and connexion, of laws of 
succession and co-existence, among the various ele- 
ments and appearances around us. And it must 
therefore here be our aim to show how this view of 
the universe falls in with our conception of the Divine 
Author, by whom we hold the universe to be made and 
governed. 

Nature acts by general laws ; that is, the occurrences 
of the world in which we find ourselves, result from 
causes which operate according to fixed and constant 
rules. The succession of days, and seasons, and years, 
is produced by the motions of the earth; and these 
again are governed by the attraction of the smi, a force 
which acts with undeviating steadiness and regularity. 
The changes of Avinds and sides, seemingly so capricious 
and casual, are produced by the ojperation of the sun's 
heat Upon air and moisture, land and sea ; and though 
in this case we cannot trace the particular events to 
their general causes, as we can trace the motions of the 
sun and moon, no philosophical mind will doubt the 
generality and fixity of the rules by which these causes 
act. The variety of the effects takes place, because 
the circumstances in different cases vary; and not 

B 2 



4 



INTEODUCTION. 



because the action of material causes leaves anything 
to chance in the result. And again, though the vital 
movements which go on in the frame of vegetables and 
animals depend on agencies still less known, and 
probably still more complex, than those which rule 
the weather, each of the powers on which such move- 
ments depend has its peculiar laws of action, and these 
are as universal and as invariable as the law by which 
a stone falls to the earth when not supported. 

The world then is governed by general laws ; and in 
order to collect from the world itself a judgment con- 
cerning the nature and character of its government, we 
must consider the import and tendency of such laws, so 
far as they come under our knowledge. If there be, in 
the administration of the universe, intelligence and 
benevolence, superintendence and foresight, grounds 
for love and hope, such qualities may be expected to 
appear in the constitution and combination of those 
fundamental regulations by which the course of nature 
is brought about, and made to be what it is. 

If a man were, by some extraordinary event, to find 
himself in a remote and unknown country, so entirely 
strange to him that he did not know whether there 
existed in it any law or government at all ; he might 
in no long time ascertain whether the inhabitants were 
controlled by any superintending authority ; and with 
a little attention he might determine also whether such 
authority were exercised with a prudent care for the 
happiness and well being of its subjects, or without any 
regard and fitness to such ends ; whether the country 
were governed by laws at aU, and whether the laws 



ON LAWS or NATURE. 



5 



were good. And according to the laws which he thus 
found prevailing, he would judge of the sagacity, and 
the purposes of the legislative power. 

By observing the laws of the material universe and 
their operation, we may ho23e, in a somewhat similar 
manner, to be able to direct our judgment concerning 
the government of the universe : concerning the mode 
in which the elements are regulated and controlled, 
their effects combined and balanced. And the general 
tendency of the results thus produced may discover to 
us something of the character of the power which has 
legislated for the material world. 

We are not to push too far the analogy thus 
suggested. There is undoubtedly a wide difference 
between the circumstances of man legislating for man, 
and God legislating for matter. Still we shall, it will 
appear, find abundant reason to admire the wisdom 
and the goodness which have established the Laivs of 
Nature, however rigorously we may scrutinise the 
import of this expression. , 

Chap. II. — On La ws of Nature. 

When we speak of material nature as being governed 
by laws, it is sufficiently evident that we use the term 
in a manner somewhat metaphorical. The laws to 
which man's attention is primarily directed are moral 
laws : rules laid down for Iris actions ; rules for the 
conscious actions of a person ; rules which, as a matter 
of possibility, he may obey or may transgress ; the 
latter event being combined, not with an impossibility, 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



but with a penalty. But the Laws of Nature are 
something different from this ; they are rules for that 
which things are to do and suffer ; and this by no 
consciousness or will of theirs. They are rules 
describing the mode in which things do act; they 
are invariably obeyed; their transgression is not 
punished, it is excluded. The language of a moral 
law is, man shall not kill ; the language of a Law of 
Nature is, a stone loill fall to the earth. 

These two kinds of laws direct the actions of persons 
and of things, by the sort of control of which persons 
and things are respectively susceptible ; so that the 
metaphor is very simple ; but it is proper for us to 
recollect that it is a metaphor, in order that we may 
clearly apprehend what is implied in speaking of the 
Laws of Nature. 

In this phrase are included all properties of the por- 
tions of the material world ; all modes of action and 
rules of causation, according to which they operate on 
each other. The whole course of the visible universe, 
therefore, is but the collective result of such laws ; its 
movements are only the aggregate of their working. 
All natural occurrences in the skies and on the earth, 
in the organic and in the inorganic world, are deter- 
mined by the relations of the elements and the actions 
of the forces of which the rules are thus prescribed. 

The relations and rules by which these occurrences 
are thus determined necessarily depend on measures of 
time and space, motion and force ; on quantities which 
are subject to numerical measurement, and capable of 
being connected by mathematical properties. And thus ' 



ON LAWS OF NATURE. 



7 



all things are ordered by number and weight and 
measure. " God," as was said by the ancients, "works 
by geometry :" the legislation of the material universe 
is necessarily delivered in the language of mathematics ; 
the stars in their courses are regulated by the proper- 
ties of conic sections, and the winds depend on arith- 
metical and geometrical progressions of elasticity and 
pressure. 

The constitution of the universe, so far as it can 
be clearly apprehended by our intellect, thus assumes 
a shape involving an assemblage of mathematical 
propositions : certain algebraical formulae, and the 
knowledge wlien and how to apply them, constitute the 
last step of the physical science to which we can attain. 
The labour and the endowments of ages have been 
employed in bringing such science into the condition 
in which it now exists : and an exact and extensive 
discipline in mathematics, followed by a practical and 
profound study of the researches of natural philoso- 
phers, can alone put any one in possession of all the 
knowledge concerning the course of the material world, 
which is at present open to man. The general impres- 
sion, however, which arises from the view thus obtained 
of the universe, the results which we collect from the 
most careful scrutiny of its administration, may, we 
trust, be rendered intelligible without this technical 
and laborious study, and to do this is our present 
object. 

It will be our business to show that the laws which 
really prevail in nature are, by their form — that is, by 
the nature of the connexion which they estabhsh among 



8 



INTHODUCTION. 



tlie quantities and properties wiiicli they regulate — 
remarkably adapted to the office which is assigned 
them ; and thus offer evidence of selection, design, and 
goodness, in the power by which they were established. 
But these characters of the legislation of the universe 
may also be seen, in many instances, in a manner 
somewhat different from the selection of the law. The 
nature of the connexion remaining the same, the quan- 
tities which it regulates may also in their magnitude 
bear marks of selection and purpose. For the law 
may be the same while the quantities to which it 
applies are different. The law of the gravity which 
acts to the earth and to Jupiter, is the same ; but the 
intensity of the force at the surfaces of the two planets 
is different. The law which regulates the density of 
the air at any point, with reference to the height from 
the earth's surface, would be the same, if .the atmos- 
phere were ten times as large, or only one-tenth as 
large, as it is ; if the barometer at the earth's surface 
stood at three inches only, or if it showed a pressure of 
thirty feet of mercmy. 

Now, this being understood, the adaptation of a law 
to its purpose, or to other laws, may appear in two 
ways : either in the form of the law, or in the amount 
of the magnitudes which it regulates, which are some- 
times called arhitrary magnitudes. 

If the attraction of the sun upon the planets did not 
vary inversely as the square of the distance, the form 
of the law of gravitation would be changed ; if this 
attraction were, at the earth's orbit, of a different value 
from its present one, the arbitrary magnitude would be 



ADAPTATION OF LAWS. 



9 



clianged ; and it will appear, iii a subsequent part of 
this work, that either change would, so far as we can 
trace its consequences, be detrimental. The form of 
the law determines in what manner the facts shall 
take place ; the arbitrary magnitude determines how" 
fast, how far, how soon ; the one gives a model, the 
other a measure, of the phenomenon ; the one draws 
the plan, the other gives the scale, on which it is to 
be executed; the one gives the rule, the other the rate. 
If either were wrongly taken, the result would be 
wrong too. 

Chap. III. — Mutual Adaptation in the Laws of Nature. 

To ascertain such laws of nature as we have been 
describing, is the peculiar business of science. It is 
only with regard to a very small portion of the appear- 
ances of the universe, that science, in any strict appli- 
cation of the term, exists. In very few departments 
of research have men been able to trace a multitude of 
known facts to causes which appear to be the ultimate 
material causes, or to discern the laws which seem to 
be the most general laws. Yet, in one or two instances, 
they have done this, or something approaching to this ; 
and most especially in the instance of that part of 
nature which it is the object of this treatise more 
peculiarly to consider. 

The apparent motions of the sun, moon, and stars, 
have been more completely reduced to their causes 
and laws than any other class of phenomena. Astro- 
nomy, the science which treats of these, is already a 



lb 



INTEODUCTION. 



wonderful example of the degree of such knowledge 
which man may attain. The forms of its most impor- 
tant laws may he conceived to he certainly known ; 
and hundreds of observers, in all parts of the world, 
are daily employed in determining, vdth additional 
accuracy, the arbitrary magnitudes which these laws 
involve. 

The inquiiies in which the mutual effects of heat, 
moisture, air, and the like elements are treated of, 
includmg, among other subjects, all that we know of 
the causes of the weather (meteorology) is a far more 
imperfect science than astronomy. Yet, with regard 
to these agents, a gTeat number of laws of nature have 
been discovered, though undoubtedly a far greater 
number remain still unknown. 

So far, therefore, as our knowledge goes, astronomy 
and meteorology are parts of natm-al philosophy in 
which we may study the order of nature with such 
views as we have suggested ; in which we may hope to 
make out the adaptations and aims which exist in the 
laws of nature; and thus to obtain some light on 
the tendency of this part of the legislation of the 
universe, and on the character and disposition of the 
Legislator. 

The number and variety of the laws which we find 
established in the universe is so gTeat, that it would be 
idle to endeavour to enumerate them. In their opera- 
tion they are combined and intermixed in incalculable 
and endless complexity, mfluencing and modifying 
each other's effects in every direction. If vfe attempt 
to comprehend at once the whole of this complex 



ADAPTATION OF LAWS. 



11 



system, we find ourselves utterly baffled and over- 
whelmed by its extent and multiplicity. Yet, in so far 
as we consider the bearing of one part upon another, 
we receive an impression of adaptation, of mutual 
fitness, of conspiring means, of preparation and com- 
pletion, of purpose and provision. This impression is 
suggested by the contemplation of every part of nature ; 
but the grounds of it, from the very circumstances of 
the case, cannot be conveyed in a few words. It can 
only be fully educed by leading the reader through 
several views and details, and must grow out of the 
combined influence of these on a sober and reflecting 
frame of mind. However strong and solemn be the 
conviction which may be derived from a contemplation 
of nature, concerning the existence, the power, the 
wisdom, the goodness of our Divine Grovernor, we 
cannot expect that this conviction, as resulting from 
the extremely complex spectacle of the material world, 
should be capable of being irresistibly conveyed by 
a few steps of reasoning, like the conclusion of a 
geometrical proposition, or the result of an arithmetical 
calculation. 

We shall, therefore, endeavour to point out cases 
and circumstances in which the different parts of the 
universe exliibit this mutual adaptation, and thus to 
bring before the mind of the reader the evidence of 
wisdom and providence, which the external world 
affords. When we have illustrated the correspond- 
encies which exist in every province of nature, between 
the qualities of brute matter and the constitution of 
living things, between the tendency to derangement 



12 



INTJIODUCTIOX. 



and the conservative inflnerftes by wliich such a 
tendency is counteracted, between the office of the 
minutest speck and of the most general laws : it will, 
we trust, be difficult or impossible to exclude from our 
conception of this wonderful system, the idea of a 
harmonising, a preserving, a contriving, an intending 
mind ; of a Wisdom, Power, and Goodness far exceed- 
ing the limits of our thoughts. 

Chap. IV. — Division of the Subject. 

Ix making a survey of the universe, for the purpose 
of pointing out such correspondencies and adaptations 
as we have mentioned, we shall suppose the general 
leading facts of the course of nature to be known, and 
the explanations of their causes now generally esta- 
blished among astronomers and natural philosophers 
to be conceded. We shall assume, therefore, that the 
earth is a solid globe of ascertained magnitude, which 
travels round the sun, in an orbit nearly circular, in a 
period of about three hundred and sixty-five days and 
a quarter, and in the mean time revolves, in an inclined 
position, upon its own axis in about twenty-four hours, 
thus producing the succession of appearances and 
effects which constitute seasons and climates, day and 
night; — that this globe has its surface furrowed and 
ridged with various inequalities, the waters of the ocean 
occupying the depressed parts : — that it is surrounded 
by an atmosphere, or spherical covering of air ; and 
that various other physical agents, moisture, electricity, 
magnetism, light, operate at the surface of the earth, 



DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. 



13 



according to their peculiar laws. This surface is, as 
we know, clothed with a covering of plants, and 
inhabited by the various tribes of animals, with all 
their variety of sensations, wants, and enjoyments. 
The relations and connexions of the larger portions of 
the world, the sun, the planets, and the stars, the 
cosmiccd arrangements of the system, as they are some- 
times called, determine the course of events among 
these bodies ; and the more remarkable features of 
these arrangements are therefore some of the subjects 
for our consideration. These cosmical arrangements, 
in their consequences, effect also the physical agencies 
which are at work at the surface of the earth, and 
hence come in contact with terrestrial occurrences. 
They thus influence the functions of plants and 
animals. The circumstances in the cosmical system 
of the universe, and in the organic system of the earth, 
which have thus a bearing on each other, form another 
of the subjects of which we shall treat. The former 
class of considerations attends principally to the 
stability and other apparent perfections of the solar 
system ; the latter to the well-being of the system of 
organic life by which the earth is occupied. The two 
portions of the subject may be treated as Cosmical 
Arrangements and Terrestrial Adaptations. 

We shall begin with the latter class of adaptations, 
because in treating of these the facts are more familiar 
and tangible, and the reasonings less abstract and 
technical, than in the other division of the subject. 
Moreover, in this case, men have no dif&culty in 
recognising as desirable the end which is answ^ered by 



14 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



such adaptations, and they therefore the more readily 
consider it as an end. The nourishment, the enjoy- 
ment, the diffusion of living things, are willingly 
acknowledged to be a suitable object for contrivance ; 
the simplicity, the permanence of an inert mechanical 
combination might not so readily be allowed to be a 
manifestly worthy aim of a Creating AVisdom. The 
former branch of oin^ argument may therefore be best 
suited to introduce to us the Deity as the institutor of 
Laws of Nature, though the latter may afterwards give 
us a mder view and a clearer insight into one province 
of his legislation. 



BOOK 1. 

TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 

We proceed in this Book to point out relations 
which subsist between the laws of the inorganic world, 
that is, the general facts of astronomy and meteoro- 
logy ; and the laws which prevail in the organic world, 
the properties of plants and animals. 

With regard to the first Idnd of laws, they are in the 
highest degree various and unlike each other. The 
intensity and activity of natural mfluences follow in 
different cases the most different rules. In some 
instances they are loeriodical, increasing and dimi- 
nishing alternately, in a perpetual succession of equal 
intervals of time. This is the case with the heat 



TEERBSTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



15 



at the earth's surface, which has a period of a year ; 
with the Hght, which has a period of a day. Other 
qualities are constant, thus the force of gravity at the 
same place is always the same. In some cases, a very 
simple cause produces very complicated effects ; thus 
the globular form of the earth, and the inclination of 
its axis during its annual motion, give rise to all the 
variety of climates. In other cases a very complex 
and variable system of causes produces effects compa- 
ratively steady and uniform ; thus solar and terrestrial 
heat, air, moisture, and probably many other apparent^ 
conflicting agents, join to produce our weather, which 
never deviates very far from a certain average standard. 

Now a general fact, which we shall endeavour to 
exemplify in the following chapters, is this : — That 
those properties of plants and animals which have 
reference to agencies of a periodical character, have 
also by their nature a periodical mode of working; 
while those properties which refer to agencies of con- 
stant intensity, are adjusted to this constant intensity : 
and again, there are peculiarities in the nature of orga- 
nised beings which have reference to a variety in the 
conditions of the external world, as, for instance, the 
difference of the organised population of different 
regions : and there are other peculiarities which have 
a reference to the constancy of the average of such 
conditions, and the limited range of the deviations from 
that average ; as, for example, that constitution by 
which each plant and animal is fitted to exist and 
prosper in its usual place in the world. 

And not only is there this general agreement between 



16 



TERKESTHIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



tlie nature of the laws wMch govern the organic and 
inorganic world, but also there is a coincidence between 
the arhitmry magnitudes which such laws involve on the 
one hand and on the other. Plants and animals have, 
in their construction, certain periodical functions, 
which have a reference to alternations of heat and cold ; 
the length of the period which belongs to these func- 
tions by their construction, appears to be that of the 
period which belongs to the actual alternations of heat 
and cold, namely, a year. Plants and animals have 
again in their construction certain other periodical 
functions, which have a reference to alternations of 
light and darkness ; the length of the period of such 
functions appears to coincide with the natural day. In 
like manner the other arbitrary magnitudes which enter 
into the laws of gravity, of the effects of air and mois- 
ture, and of other causes of permanence, and of change, 
by which the influences of the elements operate, are the 
same arbitrary magnitudes to wliich the members of 
the organic world are adapted by the various peculia- 
rities of their construction. 

The illustration of this view will be pursued in the 
succeeding chapters; and when the coincidence here 
spoken of is distinctly brought before the reader, it 
will, we trust, be found to convey the conviction of a 
wise and benevolent design, which has been exercised 
in producing such an agTeement between the internal 
constitution and the external circumstances of organised 
beings. We shall adduce cases where there is an 
apparent relation between the course of operation of 
the elements and the course of vital functions ; between 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



17 



some fixed measure of time or space, traced in the life- 
less and in tlie living world ; where creatures are con- 
structed on a certain plan, or a certain scale, and this 
plan or this scale is exactly the single one which is 
suited to their place on the earth ; where it was neces- 
sary for the Creator (if we may use such a mode of 
speaking) to take account of the weight of the earth, or 
the density of the air, or the measure of the ocean and 
where these quantities are rightly taken account of in 
the arrangements of creation. In such cases we con- 
ceive that we trace a Creator, who, in producing one 
part of his work, was not forgetful or careless of another 
part; who did not cast his living creatures into the 
world to prosper or perish as they might find it 
suited to them or not; but fitted together, with the 
nicest skill, the world and the constitution which he 
gave to its inhabitants ; so fashioning it and them, that 
light and darkness, sun and air, moist and dry, should 
become their ministers and benefactors, the unwearied 
and unfailing causes of their well being. 

We have spoken of the mutual adaptation of the 
organic and the inorganic world. If we were to con- 
ceive the contrivance of the world as taking place in 
an order of time in the contriving mind, we might 
also have to conceive this adaptation as taking place 
in one of two ways ; we might either suppose the laws 
of inert natm^e to be accommodated to the foreseen 
wants of living things, or the organisation of life to be 
accommodated to the j)reviously established laws of 
nature. But we are not forced upon any such mode 
of conception, or upon any decision between such 





18 



TEEEESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



suppositions ; since, for the purpose of our argument, 
the consequence of either view is the same. There 
is an adaptation somewhere or other, on either suppo- 
sition. There is account taken of one part of the 
system in framing the other : and the mind which took 
such account can be no other than that of the Intel- 
ligent Author of the universe. When indeed we come 
to see the vast number, the variety, the extent, the 
interweaving, the reconciling of such adaptations, we 
shall readily allow, that all things are so moulded upon 
and locked into each other, connected by such subtilty 
and profundity of design, that we may well abandon 
the idle attempt to trace the order of thought in the 
mind of the Supreme Ordainer. 

Chap. I. — The Length of the Year. 

A YEAR is the most important and obvious of the 
periods which occur in the organic, and especially in 
the vegetable world. In this interval of time the cycle 
of most of the external influences which operate upon 
plants is completed. There is also in plants a cycle of 
internal fimctions, corresponding to this succession of 
external causes. The length of either of these periods 
might have been different from what it is, according to 
any grounds of necessity which we can perceive. But 
a certain length is selected in both instances, and in 
both instances the same. The length of the year is so 
determined as to be adapted to the constitution of 
most vegetables ; or the construction of vegetables is 
so adjusted as to be suited to the length which the year 



LENGTH OF THE YEAE. 



19 



reaUy has, and unsuited to a duration longer or shorter 
by any considerable portion. The vegetable clock-work 
is so set as to go for a year. 

The length of the year or interval of recurrence of 
the seasons is determined by the time which the earth 
employs in performing its revolution round the sun : and 
we can very easily conceive the solar system so adjusted 
that the year should be longer or shorter than it 
actually is. We can imagine the earth to revolve round 
the sun at a distance gTeater or less than that which it 
at present has, all the forces of the system remaining 
unaltered. If the earth were removed towards the centre 
by about one-eighth of its distance, the year would be 
diminished by about a month ; and in the same manner 
it would be increased by a month on increasing the 
distance by one-eighth. We can suppose the earth at 
a distance of eighty-four or one hundred and eight mil- 
lions of miles, just as easily as at its present distance of 
ninety- six milhons : we can suppose the earth with its 
present stock of animals and vegetables placed where 
Mars or where Venus is, and revolving in an orbit like 
one of theirs : on the former supposition our year 
would become twenty-three, on the latter seven of our 
present months. Or we can conceive the present dis- 
tances of the parts of the system to continue what they 
are, and the size, or the density of the central mass, 
the sun, to be increased or diminished in any propor- 
tion ; and in this way the time of the earth's revolution 
might have been increased or diminished in any degree ; 
a greater velocity, and consequently a diminished 
period, being requisite in order to balance an augmented 

2 



£0 



TEERESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



central attraction. In any of these ways the length of 
the earth's natural year might have been different from 
what it now is : in the last way without any necessary 
alteration, so far as we can see, of temperature. 

Now, if any change of this kind were to take place, 
the working of the botanical world would be thrown 
into utter disorder, the functions of plants would be 
entirely deranged, and the whole vegetable kingdom 
involved in instant decay and rapid extinction. 

That this would be the case, may be collected from 
innumerable indications. Most of our fruit trees, for 
example, require the year to be of its i)resent length. 
If the summer and the autumn were much shorter, the 
fruit could not ripen; if these seasons were much 
longer, the tree would put forth a fresh suit of blossoms, 
to be cut down by the winter. Or if the year were 
twice its present length, a second crop of fruit would 
probably not be matured, for want, among other things, 
of an intermediate season of rest and consolidation, 
such as the winter is. Our forest trees, in like manner, 
appear to need all the seasons of our present year for 
their perfection ; the spring, summer, and autumn, for 
the development of their leaves and consequent forma- 
tion of their proper juice, and of wood from this ; and 
the winter for the hardening and solidifying the 
substance thus formed. 

Most plants, indeed, have some peculiar function 
adapted to each period of the year, that is of the now 
existing year. The sap ascends with extraordinary 
copiousness at two seasons, in the spring and in the 
autumn, especially the former. The opening of the 



LENGTH OP THE YEAR. 



21 



leaves and the opening of the flowers of the same 
plants are so constant to their times, (tlieir appointed 
times, as Ave are naturally led to call them), that 
such occmTences might he taken as indications of 
the times of the year. It has heen proposed in this 
way to select a series of hotanical facts which should 
form a calendar ; and this has been termed a calendar 
of Flora. Thus, if we consider the time of putting 
forth leaves,* the honeysuckle protrudes them in the 
month of January ; the gooseberry, currant, and elder 
in the end of February, or beginning of March ; the 
willow, elm, and lime-tree in April ; the oak and ash, 
which are always the latest among trees, in . the begin- 
ning or towards the middle of May. In the same 
manner the flowering has its regular time : the mezereon 
and snow-drop push forth their flowers in February; 
the primrose in the month ■ of March ; the cowslip in 
April ; the great mass of plants in May and June ; 
many in July, August, and September ; some not till 
the month of October, as the meadow saffron ; and 
some not till the approach and arrival of winter, as the 
laurustinus and arbutus. 

The fact which we have here to notice, is the recur- 
rence of these stages in the development of plants, 
at intervals precisely or very nearly of twelve months. 
Undoubtedly, this result is in part occasioned by the 
action of external stimulants upon the plant, especially 
heat, and by the recurrence of the intensity of such 
agents. Accordingly, there are slight differences in 
the times of such occurrences, according to the back- 

* Loudon, Encyclopssdia of Gardening, 848. 



22 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



wardness or forwardness of the season, and according 
as the climate is genial or otherwise. Gardeners use 
artifices which will, to a certain extent, accelerate or 
retard the time of development of a plant. But there 
are various circumstances which show that this recur- 
rence of the same events and at equal intervals is not 
entirely owing to external causes, and that it depends 
also upon somethmg in the internal structure of 
vegetables. Alpine plants do not wait for the stimulus 
of the sun's heat, but exert such a struggle to blossom, 
that their flowers are seen among the yet unmelted 
snow. And this is still more remarkable in the 
naturalisation of plants from one hemisphere to the 
other. Wlien we transplant our fruit trees to the 
temperate regions south of the equator, they continue 
for some years to flourish at the period which corres- 
ponds to our spring. The reverse of this obtains, with 
certain trees of the southern hemisphere. Plants from 
the Cape of Good Hope, and from Australia, countries 
whose summer is simultaneous with our winter, exhibit 
their flowers in the coldest part of the year, as the heaths. 

This view of the subject agrees with that maintained 
by the best botanical writers. Thus DecandoUe observes 
that after making allowance for all meteorological 
causes, which determine the epoch of flowering, we 
must reckon as another cause the peculiar nature of 
each species. The flowering once determined, appears 
to be subject to a law oi inriodicity and habit.* 

It appears then that the functions of plants have by 
their nature a periodical character ; and the length of 

Decandolle. Physiologie, ii. 478. 



LENGTH OF THE YEAE. 



the period thus belonging to vegetables is a result of 
their organisation. Warmth and light, soil and moisture, 
may in some degree modify, and hasten or retard the 
stages of this period; but when the constraint is 
removed the natural period is again resumed. Such 
stimulants as we have mentioned are not the causes of 
tliis periodicity. They do not produce the varied 
functions of the plant, and could not occasion their 
performance at regular intervals, except the plant pos- 
sessed a suitable construction. They could not alter 
the length of the cycle of vegetable functions, except 
within certain very narrow limits. The processes of 
the rising of the sap, of the formation of proper juices, 
of the unfolding of leaves, the opening of flowers, the 
fecundation of the fruit, the ripening of the seed, its 
proper deposition in order for the reproduction of a 
new plant ; — all these operations require a certain por- 
tion of time, and could not be compressed into a space 
less than a year, or at least could not be abbreviated 
in any very great degree. And on the other hand, if 
the winter were greatly longer than it now is, many 
seeds would not germinate at the return of spring. 
Seeds which have been kept too long require stimulants 
to make them fertile. 

If, therefore, the duration of the seasons were much 
to change, the processes of vegetable life would be 
interrupted, deranged, distempered. What, for instance, 
would become of our calendar of Flora, if the year were 
lengthened or shortened by six months ? Some of the 
dates would never arrive in the one case, and the vege- 
table processes which mark them would be superseded ; 



24 TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 

some seasons would be without dates in the other case, 
and these periods would be employed in a way hurtful 
to the plants, and no doubt speedily destructive. We 
should have not only a year of confusion, but, if it were 
repeated and continued, a year of death. 

But in the existing state of things, the duration of 
the earth's revolution round the sun, and the duration 
of the revolution of the vegetable functions of most 
plants are equal. These two periods are adjusted to 
each other. The stimulants which the elements apply 
come at such intervals, and continue for such times, 
that the plant is supported in health and vigour, and 
enabled to reproduce its kind. Just such a portion of 
time is measured out for the vegetable powers to execute 
their task, as enables them to do so in the best manner. 

Now such an adjustment must surely be accepted as 
a proof of design, exercised in the formation of the 
world. Why should the solar year be so long and no 
longer ? or, this being of such a length, why should the 
vegetable cycle be exactly of the same length ? Can 
this be chance ? And tliis occurs, it is to be observed, 
not in one, or in a few species of plants, but in thou- 
sands. Take a small portion only of known species, 
as the most obviously endowed with this adjustment, 
and say ten thousand. How. should all these organised 
bodies be constructed for the same period of a year ? 
How should all these machines be wound up so as to 
go for the same time ? Even allowing that they could 
bear a year of a month longer or shorter, how do they 
all come within such limits ? No chance could produce 
such a result. And if not by chance, how otherwise 



LENGTH OF THE YEAR. 



25 



could such a coincidence occur, than by an intentional 
adjustment of these two things to one another ? by a 
selection of such an organisation in plants, as would fit 
them to the earth on which they were to grow ; by an 
adaptation of construction to conditions ; of the scale 
of the construction to the scale of conditions. 

It cannot be accepted as an explanation of this fact 
in the economy of plants, that it is necessary to their 
existence ; that no plants could possibly have subsisted, 
and come down to us, except those which were thus 
suited to their place on the earth. This is true ; but 
this does not at all remove the necessity of recurring 
to design as the origin of the construction b}^ which 
the existence and contmuance of plants is made pos- 
sible. A watch could not go, except there were the 
most exact adjustment in the forms and positions of its 
wheels ; yet no one would accept it as an explanation 
of the origin of such forms and positions, that the 
watch would not go if these were other than they are. 
If the objector were to suppose that plants were origi- 
nally fitted to years of various lengths, and that such 
only have survived to the present time, as had a cycle 
of a length equal to our present year, or one which 
could be accommodated to it; we should reply, that 
the assumption is too gratuitous and extravagant to 
require much consideration ; but that, moreover, it 
does not remove the difficulty, How came the functions 
of plants to be periodical at all ? Here is, in the first 
instance, an agreement in the form of the laws that 
prevail in the organic and in the inorganic world, 
which appears to us a clear evidence of design in their 



26 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



Author. And the same kind of reply might be made 
to any similar objection to our argument. Any suppo- 
sition that the universe has gTadually approximated to 
that state of harmony among the operations of its 
different parts, of which we have one instance in the 
coincidence now under consideration, would make it 
necessary for the objector to assume a previous state 
of things preparatory to this perfect correspondence. 
And in this preparatory condition we should still be 
able to trace the rudiments of that harmony, for which 
it was proposed to account : so that even the most 
unbounded license of hj^othesis would not enable the 
opponent to obHterate the traces of an intentional 
adaptation of one part of nature to another. 

Nor would it at all affect the argument, if these 
periodical occurrences could be traced to some proxi- 
mate cause : if for instance it could be shown, that the 
budding or flowering of plants is brought about at 
particular intervals, by the nutriment accumulated in 
their vessels during the preceding months. For the 
question would still remain, how their functions were 
so adjusted, that the accumulation of the nutriment 
necessary for budding and flowering, together with the 
operation itself, comes to occupy exactly a year, instead 
of a month only, or ten years. There must be in their 
structure some reference to time : how did such a 
reference occur ? how was it determined to the par- 
ticular time of the earth's revolution round the sun ? 
This could be no otherwise, as we conceive, than by 
design and appointment. 

We are left therefore with this manifest adjustment 



LENGTH OF THE YEAR. 



27 



before us, of two parts of the universe at first sight so 
remote ; the dimensions of the solar system and the 
powers of vegetable life. These two things are so 
related, that one has been made to fit the other. The 
relation is as clear as that of a watch to a sundial. If 
a person were to compare the watch with a dial, hour 
after hour, and day after day, it would be impossible 
for him not to believe that the watch had been contrived 
to accommodate itself to the solar day. We have at 
least ten thousand kinds of vegetable watches of the 
most various forms, which are all accommodated to 
the solar year ; and the evidence of contrivance seems 
to be no more capable of being eluded in this case than 
in the other. 

The same kind of argument might be applied to the 
animal creation. The pairing, nesting, hatching, fledg- 
ing, and flight of birds, for instance, occupy each its 
peculiar time of the year; aind, together with a proper 
period of rest, fill up the twelve months. The trans- 
formations of most insects have a similar reference to 
the seasons, their progress and duration. " In everj' 
species" (except man's), says a writer* on animals, 
" there is a particular period of the year in which the 
reproductive system exercises its energies. And the 
season of love and the period of gestation are so ar- 
ranged that the young ones are produced at the time 
wherein the conditions of temperature are most suited 
to the commencement of hfe." It is not our business here 
to consider the details of such provisions, beautiful and 
striking as they are. But the prevalence of the gTeat law 

"■^ Fleming. Zool. i. 400. 



28 



TEREESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



of periodicity in the vital functions of organised beings 
will be allowed to have a claim to be considered in its 
reference to astronomy, when it is seen that their 
periodical constitution derives its use from the periodical 
natm'e of the motions of the planets round the sun ; and 
that the duration of such cycles in the existence of plants 
and animals has a reference to the arbitrary elements 
of the solar system : a reference which, we maintain, is 
inexplicable and unintelligible, except by admitting into 
our conceptions an intelligent Author, ahke of the 
organic and inorganic universe. 



Chap. 11. — The Length of the Day. 

We shall now consider another astronomical element, 
the time of the revolution of the earth on its axis ; and 
we shall find here also that the structure of organised 
bodies is suited to this element ; — that the cosmical and 
physiological arrangements are adapted to each other. 

We can very easily conceive the earth to revolve on 
her axis faster or slower than she does, and thus the 
days to be longer or shorter than they are, without 
supposing any other change to take place. There is no 
apparent reason why this globe should turn on its axis 
just three hundred and sixty-six times while it de- 
scribes its orbit round the sun. The revolutions of the 
other planets, so far as we know them, do not appear 
to follow any rule by which they are connected with 
the distance from the sun. Mercury, Venus, and 
Mars have days nearly the length of ours. Jupiter and 
Saturn revolve in about ten hours each. For anything 



LENGTH OP THE DAY. 



^9 



we can discover, the earth might have revolved in this 
or any other smaller period ; or we might have had, 
without mechanical inconvenience, much longer days 
than we have. 

But the terrestrial day, and consequently the length 
of the cycle of light and darkness, being what it is, we 
find various parts of the constitution both of animals 
and vegetables, which have a periodical character in 
their functions, corresponding to the diurnal succession 
of external conditions ; and we find that the length of 
the period, as it exists in their constitution, coincides 
with the length of the natural day. 

The alternation of processes which takes place in 
plants by day and by night is less obvious, and less 
obviously essential to their well-being, than the annual 
series of changes. But there are abundance of facts 
which serve to show that such an alternation is part of 
the vegetable economy. 

In the same manner in which Linnaeus proposed a 
Calendar of Flora, he also proposed a Dial of Flora, 
or Flower- Clock ; and this was to consist, as will readilj^ 
be supposed, of plants, which mark certain hours of 
the day, by opening and shutting their flowers. Thus 
the day-lily {hemerocallis fulva) opens at five in the 
morning ; the leontodon taraxacum, or common dande- 
lion, at five or six ; the hieracium latifolium (hawkweed)^ 
at seven ; the hieracium pilosella at eight ; the calendula 
arvensis, or marigold, at nine ; the mesemhryanthemum 
neapolitanum, at ten or eleven : and the closing of these 
and other flowers in the latter part of the day offers a 
similar system of hour marks. 



30 



TERHESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



Some of these plants are thus expanded in con- 
sequence of the stimulating action of the light and 
heat of the day, as appears by their changing their 
time, when these influences are changed; but "others 
appear to be constant to the same hours, and indepen- 
dent of the impulse of such external circumstances. 
Other flowers, by their opening and shutting, prognos- 
ticate the weather. Plants of the latter kind are called 
by Linnffius meteoric flowers, as being regulated by 
atmospheric causes : those which change their hour of 
opening and shutting with the length of the day, he 
terms tropical ; and the hours which they measure are, 
he observes, lilie Tm'kish hours, of varying length at 
difi'erent seasons. But there are other plants which 
he terms equinoctial; their vegetable days, like the 
days of the equator, being always of equal length ; and 
these open, and generally close, at a fixed and positive 
hour of the day. Such plants clearly prove that the 
periodical character, and the period of the motions 
above described, do not depend altogether on external 
circumstances. 

Some curious experiments on this subject were made 
by DecandoUe. He kept certain plants in two cellars, 
one warmed by a stove and dark, the other lighted by 
lamps. On some of the plants the artificial light 
appeared to have no influence (convolvulus arvensis, 
convolvulus cneorum, silene fruticosa), and they still 
followed the clock hours in their opening and closing. 
The night-blowing plants appeared somewhat disturbed, 
both by perpetual light and perpetual darkness. In 
either condition they accelerated their going so much, 



LENGTH or THE DAY. 



31 



that ill three days they had gained half a day, and thus 
exchanged night for day as their time of opening. 
Other flowers went sloiver in the artificial light (con- 
volvulus purpureus). In like manner those i)lants 
which fold and unfold their leaves were variously 
affected hy this mode of treatment. The oxalis stricta 
and oxalis incarnata kept their habits, without regarding 
either artificial light or heat. The mimosa leucocephala 
folded and imfolded at the usual tunes, whether in 
light or in darkness, but the folding up was not so 
complete as in the open air. The mimosa pudica 
(sensitive plant), kept in darkness during the day time, 
and illuminated during the night, had in three days 
accommodated herself to the artificial state, opening in 
the evening and closing in the morning; restored to 
the open air, she recovered her usual habits. 

Tropical plants in general, as is remarked by our 
gardeners, suffer from the length of our summer day- 
light ; and it has been found necessaiy to shade them 
dming a certam part of the day. 

It is clear from these facts, that there is a dim-nal 
IDeriod belonging to the constitution of vegetables; 
though the succession of functions depends in part on 
external stimulants, as light and heat, their periodical 
character is a result of the structm^e of the plant ; and 
this structure is such, that the length of the period, 
under the common influences to which plants are 
exposed, coincides with the astronomical day. The 
power of accommodation which vegetables possess in 
this respect, is far from being such as either to leave 
the existence of this periodical constitution doubtful. 



32 



TEREESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



or to entitle us to suppose that the clay might be con- 
siderably lengthened or shortened without injury to the 
vegetable kingdom. 

Here, then, we have an adaptation between the 
structure of plants and the periodical order of light 
and darkness which arises from the earth's rotation; 
and we find, moreover, that the arbitrary quantity in 
the two laws, the length of the cycle of the physiological 
and of the astronomical fact, is the same. Can this 
have occurred any otherwise than by an intentional 
adjustment ? 

Any supposition that the astronomical cycle has 
occasioned the physiological one, that the structure of 
plants has been brought to be what it is by the action 
of external causes, or that such plants as could not 
accommodate themselves to the existing day have 
perished, would be not only an arbitrary and baseless 
assumption, but, moreover, useless for the purposes of 
explanation which it professes, as we have noticed of a 
similar supposition with respect to the annual cycle. 
How came plants to have periodicity at all in those 
fimctions which have a relation to light and darkness ? 
This part of their constitution was suited to organised 
things which were to flourish on the earth, and it is 
accordingly bestowed on them ; it was necessary for 
this end that the period should be of a certain length ; 
it is of that length and no other. Surely tliis looks 
like intentional provision. 

Animals also have a x^eriod in their functions and 
habits; as in the habits of waking, sleeping, eating, 
&c., and their well-being appears to depend on the 



LENGTH OF THE DAY. 



33 



coincidence of this i^eriod with the length of the natural 
day. We see that in the day, as it now is, all animals 
find seasons for taking food and repose, which agree 
perfectly with their health and comfort. Some animals 
feed dming the day, as nearly all the ruminating 
animals and land birds ; others feed only in the twilight, 
as bats and owls, and are called crepuscular ; while ^ 
many beasts of prey, aquatic birds, and others, take 
their food during the night. Those animals which are 
nocturnal feeders are diurnal sleepers, while those 
which are crepuscular sleep partly in the night and 
partly in the day; but in all the complete period of 
these functions is twenty-four hours. Man, in like 
manner, in all nations and ages, takes his principal 
rest once in twenty-four hours ; and the regularity of 
this practice seems most suitable to his health, though 
the duration of the time allotted to repose is extremely 
different in different cases. So far as we can judge^ 
this period is of a length beneficial to the human 
frame, independently of the effect of external agents.. 
In the voyages recently made into high northern lati- 
tudes, where the sun did not rise for three months, 
the crews of the ships were made to adhere, with the 
utmost punctuaUty to the habit of retiring to rest at 
nine, and rising a quarter before six; and they enjoyed, 
under circumstances apparently the most trying, a - 
state of salubrity quite remarkable. This shows, that 
according to the common constitution of such men, the 
cycle of twenty-four hours is very commodious, though 
not imposed on them by external circumstances. 

The hours of food and repose are capable of such 

D 



34 



TEEEESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



wide modifications in animals, and above all in man, 
by tlie influence of external stimulants and internal 
emotions, that it is not easy to distinguish what 
portion of the tendency to such alternations depends on 
original constitution. Yet no one can doubt that the 
inclination to food and sleep is periodical, or can 
maintain, with any plausibility, that the period may 
be lengthened or shortened without limit. We may be 
tolerably certain that a constantly recurring period 
of forty-eight hours would be too long for one day of 
employment and one period of sleep, with our present 
faculties; and all, whose bodies and minds are tolerably 
active, will probably agree that, independently of habit, 
a perpetual alternation of eight hours up and four in 
bed would employ the human powers less advantage- 
ously and agreeably than an alternation of sixteen and 
eight. A creature which could employ the full energies 
of his body and mind uninterruptedly for nine months, 
and then take a single sleep of three months, would not 
be a man. 

When, therefore, we have subtracted from the daily 
cycle of the employments of men and animals, that 
which is to be set down to the account of habits 
acquired, and that which is occasioned by extraneous 
causes, there still remains a periodical character ; and 
a period of a certain length, which coincides with, or 
at any rate easily accommodates itself to, the duration 
of the earth's revolution. The physiological analysis-* 
of this part of our constitution is not necessary for our 
purpose. The succession of exertion and rej)ose in 
the muscular system, of excited and dormant sensibility 



MASS OP THE EAETH. 



35 



in the nervous, apx3ear to be fundamentally connected 
with the muscular and nervous powers, whatever the 
nature of these may be. The necessity of these alter- 
nations is one of the measures of the intensity of those 
vital energies; and it would seem that we cannot, 
without assuming the human powers to be altered, 
suppose the intervals of tranquillity which they require 
to be much changed. This view agrees with the 
opinion of some of the most eminent physiologists. 
Thus Cabanis* notices the periodical and isochronous 
character of the desire M sleep, as well as of other 
appetites. He states also that sleep is more easy and 
more salutary, in proportion as we go to rest and rise 
every day at the same hours ; and observes that this 
periodicity seems to have a reference to the motions of 
the solar system. 

Now how should such a reference be at first esta- 
bhshed in the constitution of man, animals, and plants, 
and transmitted from one generation of them to an- 
other ? If we suppose a wise and benevolent Creator, 
by whom all the parts of nature were fitted to their 
uses and to each other, this is what we might expect 
and can understand. On any other supposition, such 
a fact appears altogether incredible and inconceivable. 

♦ Chap. lII.—TJie Mass of the Earth. 

We shall now consider the adaptation which may, as 
we conceive, be traced in the amount of some of the 
quantities which determine the course of events in the 

* Rapports du Physique et du Moral de 1' Homme, ii. 371. 



86 



TEllEESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



organic world; and especially in the amount of the 
forces which are in action. The life of vegetables and 
animals implies a constant motion of their fluid parts, 
and this motion must be produced by forces which 
urge or draw the particles of the fluids. The positions 
of the parts of vegetables are also the result of the 
flexibility and elasticity of their substance ; the volun- 
tary motions of animals are produced by the tension of 
the muscles. But, in all those cases, the effect really 
IDroduced depends upon the force of gravity also ; and 
in order that the motions and positions may be such 
as answer their purpose, the forces which produce them 
must have a due proportion to the force of gravity. In 
human works — if, for instance, we have a fluid to raise, 
or a weight to move — some calculation is requisite, in 
order to determine the power which we must use, 
relatively to the work which is to be done : we have a 
mechanical problem to solve, in order that we may 
adjust the one to the other. And the same adjustment, 
the same result of a comparison of quantities, manifests 
itself in the relation which the forces of the organic 
world bear to the force of gravity. 

The force of gravity might, so far as we can judge, 
have been different from what it now is. It dex)ends 
upon the mass of the earth ; and this mass is one of the 
elements of the solar system, which is not determined 
by any cosmical necessity of which we are aware. The 
masses of the several planets are very different, and do 
not appear to follow any determinate rule, except that 
upon the whole those nearer to the sun appear . to be 
smaller, and those nearer the outsldrts of the system 



MASS OP THE EAETH. 



37 



to be larger. We cannot see anything which would 
have prevented either the size or the density of the 
earth from being different, to a very great extent, from 
what they are. 

Now, it will be very obvious that if the intensity of 
gTavity were to be much increased or much diminished, 
if every object were to become twice as heavy or only 
half as heavy as it now is, all the forces both of 
involuntary and voluntary motion, which produce the 
present orderly and suitable results by being properly 
X)roportioned to the resistance wdiich they experience, 
would be thrown off their balance ; they would produce 
motions too quick or too slow, wong positions, jerks 
and stops, instead of steady, well-conducted movements. 
The universe would be like a machine ill regulated ; 
everything would go m'ong ; repeated collisions and a 
rapid disorganisation must be the consequence. We 
^vill, however, attempt to illustrate one or two of the 
cases in which this would take place, by pointing out 
forces which act in the organic world, and which are 
adjusted to the force of gTavity. 

I. The first instance we shall take is the force 
manifested by the ascent of the sap in vegetables. It 
appears, by a multitude of indisputable experiments 
(among the rest those of Hales, Mirbel, and Dutrochet), 
that all plants imbibe moisture by their roots, and 
pump it up, by some internal force, into every part of 
their frame, distributing it into every leaf. It will 
easily be conceived that this operation must require a 
very considerable mechanical force ; for the fluid must 
be sustained as if it were a single column reaching to 



38 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



the top of the tree. The division into minute parts, 
and distribution tlirough small vessels, does not at all 
diminish the total force requisite to raise it. If, for 
instance, the tree be thirty-three feet high, the pressure 
must be fifteen pounds upon every square inch in the 
section of the vessels of the bottom, in order merely to 
support the sap. And it is not only supported, but 
joropelled upwards vnih great force, so as to supply the 
constant evaporation of the leaves. The pumping power 
of the tree must therefore be very considerable. 

That this power is great, has been confirmed by 
various curious experiments, especially by those of 
Hales. He measured the force with which the stems 
and branches of trees draw the fluid from below, and 
push it upwards. He found, for instance, that a vine 
in the bleeding season could push up its sap in a glass 
tube to the height of twenty-one feet above the stump 
of an amputated branch. 

The force which produces this effect is part of the 
economy of the vegetable world ; and it is clear that 
the due operation of the force depends upon its being 
rightly proportioned to the force of gravity. The 
weight of the fluid must be counterbalanced, and an 
access of force must exist to produce the motion 
upwards. In the common course of vegetable life, the 
rate of ascent of the sap is regulated, on the one hand, 
by the upward pressure of the vegetable power, and on 
the other, by the amount of the gravity of the fluid, 
along with the other resistances, which are to be over- 
come. If, therefore, we suppose gravity to increase, 
the rapidity of this vegetable circulation will diminish, 



MASS OF THE EAUTH. 



39 



and the rate at wliicli this function proceeds will not 
correspond either to the course of the seasons, or the 
other physiological processes with which this has to 
co-operate. We might easily conceive such an increase 
of gravity as would stop the vital movements of the 
plant in a very short time. In like manner, a dimi- 
nution of the gravity of the vegetable juices would 
accelerate the rising of the sap, and would probably 
hurry and overload the leaves and other organs, so as 
to interfere with their due operation. Some injm-ious 
change, at least, would take i)lace. 

Here, then, we have the forces of the minutest parts 
of vegetables adjusted to the magnitude of the whole 
mass of the earth on which they exist. There is no 
apparent connection between the quantity of matter of 
the earth, and the force of imbibition of the roots of a 
vine, or the force of propulsion of the vessels of its 
branches. Yet these things have such a proportion as 
the wellbeing of the vine requires. How is this to be 
accounted for, but by supposing that the circumstances 
under which the vine was to grow were attended to in 
devismg its structure ? 

We have not here x^retended to decide whether this 
force of propulsion of vegetables is mechanical or not, 
because the argument is the same for our j)urpose on 
either supposition. Some very curious experiments 
have recently been made (by M. Dutrochet), wliich are 
supposed to show that the force is mechanical ; that 
when two different fluids are separated by a thin mem- 
brane, a force, which M. Dutrochet calls endosmose, 
ui'ges one fluid through the membrane : and that the 



40 



TERRESTEIAL ADAPT ATLONS. 



roots of plants are provided witli small vesicles which 
act the part of such a membrane. M. Poisson has 
further attempted to show that this force of endosmose 
may be considered as a particular modification of capil- 
lary action. If these views be true, we have here two 
mechanical forces, capillary action and gravity, which 
are adjusted to each other in the manner precisely 
suited to the welfare of vegetables. 

II. As another mstance of adaptation between the force 
of gravity and forces which exist in the vegetable world, 
we may take the ]30sitions of flowers. Some flowers 
grow with the hollow of their cup upwards : others, 
" hang the pensive head " and turn the opening down- 
wards. Now of these " nodding flowers," as Linnaeus 
calls them, he observes that they are such as have then* 
pistil longer than the stamens ; and, in consequence of 
this position, the dust from the anthers, which are at 
the end of the stamens, can fall upon the stigma or 
extremity of the pistil ; which process is requisite for 
making the flower fertile. He gives as instances the 
flowers campanula, leucoium, galantlius, fritillaria. 
Other botanists have remarked that the position 
changes at different periods of the flower's progress. 
The pistil of the Euphorbia (which is a little globe or 
germen on a slender stalk) grows upright at first, and 
is taller than the stamens : at the period suited to its 
fecundation, the stalk bends under the weight of the 
ball at its extremity, so as to depress the germen belovvr 
the stamens : after this it again becomes erect, the 
globe being now a fruit filled with fertile seeds. 

The positions in all these cases depend upon the 



MASS OF THE EAUTH. 



41 



length and flexibility of tlie stalk which supports the 
flower, or, in the case of the Euphorbia, the germen. 
It is clear that a very shght alteration in the force of 
gravity, or in the stiflhess of the stalk, would entirely 
alter the position of the flower cup, and thus make the 
continuation of the species impossible. We have 
therefore here a little mechanical contrivance, which 
would have been frustrated if the proper intensitj^ of 
gravity had not been assumed in the reckoning. An 
earth greater or smaller, denser or rarer than the one 
on which we live, would require a change in the struc- 
ture and strength of the footstalks of all the little 
flowers that hang their heads under our hedges. There 
is something curious in thus considering the whole mass 
of tlie earth from pole to pole, and from circumference 
to centre, as employed in keeping a snowdrop in the 
position most suited to the promotion of its vegetable 
health. 

It would be easy to mention many other parts of the 
economy of vegetable life, which depend for their use 
on their adaptation to the force of gravity. Such are 
the forces and conditions which determine the positions 
of leaves and of branches. Such, again, those parts of 
the vegetable constitution which have reference to the 
pressure of the atmosphere; for differences in this 
pressure appear to exercise a i)owerful influence on 
the functions of plants, and to require differences of 
structure. But we pass over these considerations. 
The slightest attention to the relations of natural 
objects will show that the subject is inexliaustible ; 
and all that we can or need do is to give a few 



42 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS S. 



examples, such as may show the nature of the 
impression wliich the examination of the universe 
produces. 

III. Another instance of the adjustment of organic 
structm-e to the force of gravity may be pointed out 
in the muscular powers of animals. If the force of 
gravity were increased in any considerable proportion 
at the surface of the earth, it is manifest that all the 
swiftness, and strength, and gTace of animal motions 
must disappear. If, for instance, the earth were as large 
as Jupiter, gravity would be eleven times what it is ; the 
lightness of the fawn, the speed of the hare, the spring 
of the tiger, could no longer exist with the existing 
muscular powers of those animals ; for man to lift 
himself upright, or to crawl from i^lace to place, would 
be a labour slower and more painful than the motions 
of the sloth. The density and pressure of the air, too, 
would be increased to an intolerable extent, and the 
operation of respiration, and others, which dej)end 
upon these mechanical properties, would be rendered 
laborious, ineffectual, and probably impossible. 

If, on the other hand, the force of gravity were much 
lessened, inconveniences of an opposite kind would 
occur. The air would be too thin to breathe ; the 
weight of our bodies, and of all the substances sur- 
rounding us, would become too slight to resist the 
perpetually occurring causes of derangement and 
unsteadiness : we should feel a want of ballast in our 
movements. 

It has sometimes been maintained by fanciful 
theorists that the earth is merely a shell, and that 



MASS OF THE EAETH. 



43 



the central parts are hollow. All the reasons we can 
collect appear to be in favour of its being a solid mass, 
considerably denser than any known rock. If this be 
SO5 and if we suppose the interior to be at any time 
scooped out, so as to leave only such a shell as the 
above-mentioned speculators have imagined, we should 
not be left in ignorance of the change, though the 
appearance of the surface might remain the same. 
We should discover the want of the usual force of 
gravity, by the instability of all about us. Things 
would not lie where we placed them, but would slide 
away with the slightest push. We should have a 
difficulty in standing or walking, something lilie 
what we have on ship -board when the deck is in- 
clined ; and we should stagger helplessly through an 
atmosphere thinner than that which oppresses the 
respiration of the traveller on the tops of the highest 
mountains. 

We see therefore that those dark and unknown 
central portions of the earth, which are placed far 
beyond the reach of the miner and the geologist, and 
of which man will probably never know anything 
directly, are not to be considered as quite discon- 
nected with us, as deposits of useless lumber without 
effect or purpose. We feel their influence on every 
step we take and on every breath we draw ; and the 
powers we possess, and the comforts we enjoy would 
be unprofitable to us, if they had not been prepared 
with a reference to those as well as to the near and 
visible portions of the earth's mass. 

The arbitrary quantity, therefore, of which we have 



44 



TEEEESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



been treating, the intensity of the force of gravity, 
appears to have been taken account of, in establishing 
the laws of those forces by which the processes of 
vegetable and animal life are carried on. And this 
leads us inevitably, we conceive, to the belief of a 
supreme contriving mind, by which these laws were 
thus devised and thus established. 

Chap. IV. — The Magnitude of the Ocean. 

There are several arbitrary quantities which contri- 
bute to determine the state of things at the earth's 
surface besides those already mentioned. Some of 
these we shall briefly refer to, without pursuing the 
subject into detail. We wish not only to show that 
the properties and processes of vegetable and animal 
life must be adjusted to each of these quantities in 
particular, but also to point out how numerous and 
complicated the conditions of the existence of organised 
beings are; and we shall thus be led to thmk less 
inadequate^ of the intelligence which has embraced 
at once, and combined without confusion, all these 
conditions. We appear thus to be conducted to the 
conviction not only of design and intention, but of 
supreme knowledge and wisdom. 

One of the quantities which enters into the consti- 
tution of the terrestrial system of things is the bulk of 
the waters of the ocean. The mean depth of the sea, 
according to the calculations of Laplace, is four or five 
miles. On this supposition, the addition to the sea of 
one -fourth of the existing w^aters would drown the 



MAGNITUDE OP THE ATMOSPHEUE. 45 

whole of the globe, except a few chams of mountains. 
AVhether this be exact or no, we can easily conceive 
the quantity of water which lies in the cavities of our 
globe to be greater or less than it at present is. With 
every such addition or subtraction the form and magni- 
tude of the dry land would vary, and if this change 
were considerable, many of the present relations of 
things would be altered. It may be sufficient to 
mention one effect of such a change. The sources 
which water the earth, both clouds, rains and rivers, 
are mainly fed by the aqueous vapour raised from the 
sea ; and therefore if the sea were much dimmished, 
and the land increased, the mean quantity of moisture 
distributed upon the land must be dimmished, and the 
character of climates, as to wet and dry, must be 
materially affected. Similar, but opposite changes 
would result from the increase of the surface of the 
ocean. 

It appears then that the magnitude of the ocean is 
one of the conditions to which the structure of all 
organised beings wliich are dependent upon climate 
must be adapted. 

Chap. V. — The Magnitude of the Atmosphere. 

The total quantity of air of which our atmosphere is 
composed is another of the arbitrary magnitudes of 
our terrestrial system; and we may apply to this 
subject considerations similar to those of the last 
section. We can see no reason why the atmosphere 
might not have been larger in comparison to the globe 



46 



TEEEESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



wliicli it surrounds ; those of Mars and Jupiter apjDear 
to be so. But if the quantity of air were increased, 
the structure of organised beings would in many ways 
cease to be adapted to their place. The atmospheric 
pressure, for instance, would be increased, which, as 
we have already noticed, would require an alteration 
in the structure of vegetables. 

Another way in which an increase of the mass of 
the atmosphere would produce inconvenience would be 
in the force of winds. If the current of air in a strong 
gale were doubled or tripled, as might be the case if 
the atmosphere were augmented, the destructive effects 
would be more than doubled or tripled. With such a 
change, nothing could stand against a storm. In 
general, houses and trees resist the violence of the 
wind ; and except in extreme cases, as for instance, in 
occasional hurricanes in the West Indies, a few large 
trees in a forest are unusual trophies of the power of 
the tempest. The breezes which we commonly feel 
are harmless messengers, travelling so as to bring about 
the salutary changes of the atmosphere: even the 
motion which they communicate to vegetables tends to 
promote their growth, and is so advantageous, that it 
has been proposed to imitate it by artificial breezes in 
the hothouse. But with a stream of wind blowing 
against them, like three, or five, or ten, gales compressed 
into the space of one, none of the existing trees could 
stand; and except they could either bend like rushes 
in a stream, or extend their roots far wider than their 
branches, they must be torn up in whole groves. We 
have thus a manifest adaptation of the present usual 



CLIMATES. 



47 



strength of the materials and of the workmanship of 
the world to the stress of wind and weather which they 
have to sustain. 

Chap. VI. — The Constancy and Variety of Climates. 

It is possible to conceive arrangements of our system, 
according to which all parts of the earth might have 
the same, or nearly the same, climate. If, for 
example, we suppose the earth to be a flat disk, or 
flat ring, like the ring of Saturn, revolving in its own 
plane as that does, each part of both the flat surfaces 
would have the same exposure to the sun, and the 
same temperature, so far as the sun's effect is con- 
cerned. There is no obvious reason why a planet of 
such a form might not be occupied by animals and 
vegetables, as well as our present earth ; and on this 
supposition the climate would be everywhere the 
same, and the whole surface might be covered 
with life, without the necessity of there being any 
difference in the kind of inhabitants belonging to 
different parts. 

Again, it is possible to conceive arrangements 
according to which no part of our planet should have 
any steady climate. This may probably be the case 
with a comet. If we suppose such a body, revolving 
round the sun in a very oblong ellipse, to be of small 
size and of a very high temperature, and therefore to 
cool rapidly ; and if we suppose it also to be surrounded 
by a large atmosphere, composed of various gases; 
there would, on the surface of such a body, be no 



48 



TEREESmiAL ADAPTATIONS. 



average climate or seasons for each place. The years, 
if we give this name to the intervals of time occupied 
by its successive revolutions, would be entirely unlike 
one another. The greatest heat of one year might be 
cool compared with the greatest cold of a preceding 
one. The greatest heats and colds might succeed each 
other at intervals perpetually unequal. The atmos- 
phere might be perpetually changing its composition 
by the condensation of some of its constituent gases. 
In the operations of the elements, all would be inces- 
sant and rapid change, without recurrence or compen- 
sation. We cannot say that organised bemgs could 
not be fitted for such a habitation ; but if they were, 
the adaptation must be made by means of a consti- 
tution quite different from that of almost all organ- 
ised beings known to us. 

The state of things upon the earth, in its present 
condition, is very different from both these supposi- 
tions. The climate of the same place, notwithstanding 
perpetual and apparently irregular change, possesses 
a remarkable steadiness. And, though in different 
places the annual succession of appearances in the 
earth and heavens, is, in some of its main characters, 
the same, the result of these influences in the average 
chmate is very different. 

Now, to this remarkable constitution of the earth as 
to climate, the constitution of the animal and vegetable 
world is precisely adapted. The differences of different 
climates are provided for by the existence of entirely 
different classes of plants and animals in different 
countries. The constancy of climate at the same place 



CLIMATES. 



49 



is a necessary condition of the prosperity of each 
species there fixed. 

We shall illustrate by a few details, these character- 
istics in the constitution of inorganic and of organic 
nature, ^ith the view of fixing the reader's attention 
upon the correspondence of the two. 

I. The succession and alternation, at any given place, 
of heat and cold, rain and sunshine, wind and calm, 
and other atmospheric changes, appear at first sight to 
be extremely irregular, and not subject to any law. It 
is, however, easy to see, with a little attention, that 
there is a certain degree of constancy in the average 
weather and seasons of each place, though the particular 
facts of which these generalities are made up seem to 
be out of the reach of fixed laws. And when we apply 
any numerical measure to these particular occurrences, 
and take the average of the numbers thus observed, 
we generally find a remarkably close corresx^ondence 
in the numbers belonging to the whole, or to analogous 
portions of successive years. This will be found to 
apply to the measures given by the thermometer, the 
barometer, the hygrometer, the raingage, and similar 
instruments. Thus it is found that very hot summers, 
or very cold winters, raise or depress the mean annual 
temperature very little above or below the general 
standard. 

The heat may be expressed by degrees of the 
thermometer ; the temperature of the day is estimated 
by this measure taken at a certain period of the day, 
which period has been found by experience to correspond 
with the daily average ; and the mean annual tempera- 

E 



50 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



ture will then be the average of all the heights of the 
thermometer so taken for every day in the year. 

The mean annual temperature of London, thus 
measured, is about 50 degrees and 4-lOths. The frost 
of the year 1788 was so severe that the Thames was 
passable on the ice ; the mean temperature of that 
year was 50 degTees and 6-lOths, being within a small 
fraction of a degree of the standard. In 1796, when 
the greatest cold ever observed in London occurred, 
the mean temperature of the year was 50 degrees and 
1-lOth, wliich is likewise within a fraction of a degree 
of the standard. In the severe winter of 1813-14, 
when the Thames, Tyne, and other large rivers in 
England were completely frozen over, the mean tem- 
perature of the two years was 49 degrees, being little 
more than a degree below the standard. And in the 
year 1808, when the summer was so hot that the 
temperature in London was as high as 934 degrees, 
the mean heat of the year was 50^, which is about that 
of the standard. 

The same numerical indications of the constancy 
of chmate at the same place might be collected from 
the records of other instruments of the kind above 
mentioned. 

We shall, hereafter, consider some of the very 
complex agencies by which this steadiness is produced ; 
and shall endeavour to point out intentional adaptations 
to this object. But we may, in the meantime, observe 
how this property of the atmospheric changes is made 
subservient to a further object. 

To this constancy of the climates of each place, the 



CLIMATES. 



51 



structure of plants is adapted ; almost all vegetables 
require a particular mean temperature of the year, or 
of some season of the year, a particular degree of 
moisture, and similar conditions. This will be seen 
by observing that the range of most plants as to climate 
is very limited, A vegetable which flourishes where 
the mean temperature is 55 degrees, would pine and 
wither when removed to a region where the average is 
50 degrees. If, therefore, the average at each place 
were to vary as much as this, our plants with their 
present constitutions would suffer, languish, and soon 
die. 

II. It will be readily understood that the same mode 
of measurement by which we learn the constancy of 
climate at the same place, serves to show us the 
variety which belongs to different places. While the 
variations of the same region vanish when we take the 
averages even of moderate periods, those of distant 
countries are fixed and perpetual ; and stand out more 
clear and distinct, the longer is the interval for which 
we measure their operation. 

In the way of measuring already described, the mean 
temperature of Petersburg is 39 degrees, of Kome 60, 
of Cairo, 73. Such observations as these, and others 
of the same land, have been made at various places, 
collected and recorded ; and in this way the surface of 
the earth can be divided by boundary hues into various 
strips, according to these physical differences. Thus, 
the zones which take in all the places having the same 
or nearly the same mean annual temperature, have 
been called isothermal zones. These zones run nearly 

E 2 



52 



TEREESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



parallel to the equator, but not exactly, for, in Europe, 
tliey bend to the north in going eastward. In the 
same manner, the lines passing through all places 
which have an equal temperature for the summer or 
the winter half of the year, have been called respectively 
isotheral and isochimal lines. These do not coincide 
with the isothermal lines, for a place may have the 
same temperature as another, though its summer be 
hotter and its winter colder, as is the case of Pekin 
compared with London. In the same way we might 
conceive lines drawn according to conditions depending 
on clouds, rain, wind, and the like circumstances, if we 
had observations enough to enable us to lay down such 
lines. The course of vegetation depends upon the 
combined influence of all such conditions ; and the 
lines which bound the spread of particular vegetable 
productions do not, in most cases, coincide with any 
of the separate meteorological boundaries above spoken 
of. Thus the northern limit of vineyards runs through 
France, in a direction very nearly north-east and south- 
west, while the line of equal temperature is nearly 
east and west. And the spontaneous growth or advan- 
tageous cultivation of other plants, is in like manner 
bounded by lines of which the course depends upon 
very complex causes, but of vv^hich the position is 
generally precise and fixed. 



GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



53 



Chap. VII. — The Variety of Organisation corresponding to the 
Variety of Climate. 

The organisation of plants and animals is in 
different tribes formed upon schemes more or less 
different, but in all cases adjusted in a general way to 
tlie course and action of the elements. The differences 
are connected with the different habits and manners of 
living which belong to different species ; and at any 
one place the various species, both of animals and 
plants, have a number of relations and mutual depend- 
encies arising out of these differences. But besides 
the differences of this kind, we find in the forms of 
organic Hfe another set of differences, by which the 
animal and vegetable kingdom are fitted for that variety 
in the climates of the earth, which we have been 
endeavouring to explain. 

The existence of such differences is too obvious to 
require to be dwelt upon. The plants and animals 
which flourish and thrive in countries remote from 
each other, offer to the eye of the traveller a series of 
pictures, which even to an ignorant and unreflecting 
spectator, is full of a peculiar and fascinating interest, 
in consequence of the novelty and strangeness of the 
successive scenes. 

Those who describe the countries between the 
tropics, speak with admiration of the luxuriant pro- 
fusion and rich variety of the vegetable productions of 
those regions. Vegetable Hfe seems there far more 
vigorous and active, the circumstances under which it 



54 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



goes on, far more favourable than in our latitudes. 
Now if we conceive an inhabitant of those regions, 
knowing, from the circumstances of the earth's form 
and motion, the difference of climates, which must pre- 
vail upon it, to guess, from what he saw about him, 
the condition of other parts of the globe as to vegetable 
wealth, is it not likely that he would suppose that the 
extratropical climates must be almost devoid of plants ? 
We know that the ancients, living in the temperate 
zone, came to the conclusion that both the torrid and 
the frigid zones must be uninhabitable. In like manner 
the equatorial reasoner would probably conceive that 
vegetation must cease, or gradually die away, as he 
should proceed to places furtl>er and further removed 
from the genial mfluence of the sun. The mean tempe- 
rature of his year being about eighty degrees, he would 
hardly suppose that any plants could subsist through a 
year, where the mean temperature was only fifty, where 
the temperature of the summer quarter was only sixty- 
four, and where the mean temperature of a whole 
quarter of the year was a very few degrees removed 
from that at which water becomes solid. He would 
suppose that scarcely any tree, shrub, or flower could 
exist in such a state of things, and so far as the 
plants of his own country are concerned he would 
judge rightly. 

But the countries further removed from the equator 
are not left thus unprovided. Instead of being scantily 
occupied by such of the tropical plants as could support 
a stunted and precarious life in ungenial climes, they 
are abundantly stocked with a multitude of vegetables 



GEOGEAPHY OP PLANTS. 



55 



which appear to be constructed expressly for them, 
inasmuch as these species can no more flourish at the 
equator than the equatorial species can in these tem- 
perate regions. And such new su]3plies thus adapted 
to new conditions, recur perpetually as we advance 
towards the apparently frozen and untenantable regions 
in the neighbourhood of the pole. Every zone has 
its xoeculiar vegetables; and while we miss some, we 
find others make their appearance, as if to replace 
those which are absent. 

If we look at the indigenous plants of Asia and 
Europe, we find such a succession as we have here 
spoken of. At the equator we find the natives of the 
Spice Islands, the clove and nutmeg trees, pepper and 
mace. Cinnamon bushes clothe the surface of Ceylon;* 
the odoriferous sandal wood, the ebony tree, the teak 
tree, the banyan, gTow in the East Indies. In the 
same latitudes in Arabia the Happy we find balm, 
frankincense, and myrrh, the coffee tree, and the tama- 
rind. But in these countries, at least in the plains, 
the trees and shrubs which decorate our more northerly 
climes are wanting. And as we go northwards, at every 
step we change the vegetable group, both by addition 
and by subtraction. In the thickets to the west of the 
Caspian Sea we have the apricot, citron, peach, walnut. 
In the same latitude in Spain, Sicily, and Italy, we 
find the dwarf palm, the cypress, the chestnut, the 
cork tree : the orange and lemon tree perfume the 
air with their blossoms : the myrtle and pomegranate 
grow wild among the rocks. We cross the Alps, and 

* Barton, Geography of Plants. 



56 



TEREESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



we find the vegetation which belongs to northern 
Europe, of which England affords an instance. The 
oak, the beech, and the elm are natives of Great 
Britain : the elm tree seen ui Scotland, and in the 
north of England, is the wych elm. As we travel still 
further to the north the forests again change their 
character. In the northern provinces of the Eussian 
emph'e are found forests of the various species of firs : 
the scotch and spruce fir, and the larch. In the 
Orkney Islands no tree is found but the hazel, which 
occurs again on the northern shores of the Baltic. As 
we proceed into colder regions we still find species 
which appear to have been made for these situations. 
The hoary or cold alder makes its appearance north 
of Stockholm : the sycamore and mountain ash accom- 
pany us to the head of the gulf of Bothnia : and as we 
leave this and traverse the Dophrian range, we pass in 
succession the boundary Imes of the spruce fir, the 
scotch fir, and those minute shrubs which botanists 
distmguish as the dwarf birch and dwarf willow. Here, 
near to or within the arctic circle, we yet find wild 
flowers of great beauty : the mezereum, the yellow and 
white water-lily, and the European globe flower. And 
when these fail us, the reindeer moss still makes the 
country habitable for animals and man. 

We have thus a variety in the laws of vegetable 
organisation remarkably adapted to the variety of 
chmates ; and by this adaptation the globe is clothed 
with vegetation and peopled with animals from pole to 
pole, while without such an adaptation vegetable and 
animal life must have been confined almost, or entirely. 



GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



57 



to some narrow zone on the earth's surface. We con- 
ceive that we see here the evidence of a wise and 
benevolent intention, overcoming the varying diffi- 
culties, or employing the varying resources of the 
elements, with an inexhaustible fertility of contrivance, 
a constant tendency to diffuse life and well being. 

II. One of the great uses to which the vegetable 
wealth of the earth is applied, is the support of man, 
whom it provides with food and clothing ; and the 
adaptation of tribes of indigenous vegetables to every 
climate has, we cannot but believe, a reference to the 
intention that the human race should be diffused over 
the whole globe. But this end is not answered by 
indigenous vegetables alone ; and in the variety of 
vegetables capable of being cultivated with advantage 
in various countries, we conceive that we find evidence 
of an additional adaptation of the scheme of organic life 
to the system of the elements. 

The cultivated vegetables, which form the necessaries 
or luxuries of human life, are each confined within 
limits, narrow, when compared with the whole surface 
of the earth; yet almost every part of the earth's 
surface is capable of being abundantly covered with 
one kind or other of these. When one class fails, 
another appears in its place. Thus corn, wine, and 
oil, have each its boundaries. Wheat extends through 
the old Continent, from England to Thibet : but it 
stops soon in going northwards, and is not found to 
succeed in the west of Scotland. Nor does it thrive 
better in the torrid zone than in the polar regions : 
within the tropics, wheat, barley, and oats are not 



58 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



cultivated, excepting in situations considerably above 
the level of the sea : the inhabitants of those countries 
have other species of grain, or other food. The culti- 
vation of the vine succeeds only in countries where the 
annual temperature is between 50 and 63 degrees. 
In both hemispheres, the profitable culture of this 
plant ceases within 30 degrees of the equator, unless in 
elevated situations, or in islands, as Teneriffe. The 
limits of the cultivation of maize and of olives in France 
are parallel to those which bound the vine and corn in 
succession to the north. In the north of Italy, west of 
Milan, we first meet with the cultivation of rice ; which 
extends over all the southern part of Asia, wherever 
the land can be at pleasure covered with water. In 
great part of Africa millet is one of the principal kinds 
of grain. 

Cotton is cultivated to latitude 40 in the new world, 
but extends to Astrachan in latitude 46 in the old. 
The sugar cane, the plantain, the mulberry, the betel 
nut, the indigo tree, the tea tree, repay the labours of 
the cultivator in India and China ; and several of these 
plants have been transferred, with success, to America 
and the West Indies. In equinoctial America a great 
number of inhabitants find abundant nourishment on 
a narrow space cultivated with plantain, cassava yams, 
and maize. The cultivation of the bread fruit tree 
begins in the Manillas, and extends through the 
Pacific ; the sago palm is grown in the Moluccas, the 
cabbage tree in the Pelew Islands. 

In this manner the various tribes of men are provided 
with vegetable food. Some, however, live on their cattle, 



GEOGEAPHY OE PLANTS. 



59 



and thus make the produce of the earth only mediately 
subservient to their wants. Thus the Tatar tribes 
depend on their flocks and herds for food : the taste for 
the flesh of the horse seems to belong to the Mongols, 
Fins, and other descendants of the ancient Scythians : 
the locust eaters are found now, as formerly, in Africa. 

Many of these differences dei)end upon custom, soil, 
and other causes with which we do not here meddle ; 
but many are connected with climate : and the variety 
of the resources which man thus possesses, arises from 
the variety of constitution belonging to cultivable vege- 
tables, through which one is fitted to one range of 
cHmate, and another to another. We conceive that 
this variety and succession of fitness for cultivation, 
shows undoubted marks of a most foreseeing and 
benevolent design in the Creator of man and of the 
world. 

III. By differences in vegetables of the Idnd we have 
above described, the sustentation and gratification of 
man's physical nature is copiously provided for. But 
there is another circumstance, a result of the difference 
of the native products of different regions, and there- 
fore a consequence of that difference of climate on 
which the difference of native products depends,* which 
appears to be worthy our notice. The difference of the 
productions of different countries has a bearing not only 
upon the physical, but upon the social and moral 
condition of man. 

The intercom^se of nations in the way of discovery, 

* It will be observed, that it is not here asserted that the difierence 
of native products depends on the difference of climate alone. 



60 



TEREESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



colonisation, commerce ; tlie study of the natural 
history, manners, institutions of foreign countries; 
lead to most numerous and important results. Without 
dwelling upon this subject, it will probably be allowed 
that such intercourse has a great influence upon the 
comforts, the prosperity, the arts, the literature, the 
]30wer, of the nations which thus communicate. Now 
the variety of the productions of different lands supplies 
both the stimulus to this intercourse, and the instru- 
ments by which it produces its effects. The desire to 
possess the objects or the knowledge which foreign 
countries alone can supply, urges the trader, the 
traveller, the discoverer to compass land and sea; and 
the progress of the arts and advantages of civilisation 
consists almost entirely in the cultivation, the use, the 
improvement of that which has been received from 
other countries. 

This is the case to a much greater extent than might 
at first sight be supposed. Where man is active as 
a cultivator, he scarcely ever bestows much of his care 
on those vegetables which the land would produce in a 
state of nature. He does not select some of the plants 
of the soil and improve them by careful culture, but, for 
the most part, he expels the native possessors of the 
land, and introduces colonies of strangers. 

Thus, to take the condition of our own part of the 
globe as an example ; scarcely one of the plants which 
occupy our fields and gardens is indigenous to the 
country. The walnut and the peach come to us from 
Persia ; the apricot from Armenia : from Asia Minor, 
and Syria, we have the cherry tree, the fig, the pear, 



GEOGRAPHY OP PLANTS. 



61 



the pomegranate, the olive, the plum, and the mulberry. 
The vine which is now cultivated is not a native of 
Europe ; it is found wild on the shores of the Caspian, 
in Armenia and Caramania. The most useful species 
of j)lants, the cereal vegetables, are certainly strangers 
though their birth place seems to be an impenetrable 
secret. Some have fancied that barley is found wild on 
the banks of the Semara, in Tartary, rye in Crete, 
wheat at Baschkiros, in Asia ; but this is held by the 
best botanists to be very doubtful. The potato, which 
has been so widely diffused over the world in modern 
times, and has added so much to the resources of life 
in many countries, has been found equally difficult to 
trace back to its wild condition.^' 

Thus widely are spread the traces of the connexion 
of the progress of civilisation with national intercourse. 
In our own country a higher state of the arts of life is 
marked by a more ready and extensive adoption of 
foreign productions. Our fields are covered with herbs 
from Holland, and roots from Germany ; with Flemish 
farming and Swedish turnips ; our hills with forests of 
the firs of Norway. The chestnut and poplar of the 
south of Europe adorn our lawns, and below them 
flourish shrubs and flowers from every clime in pro- 
fusion. In the mean time Arabia improves our horses, 
China our pigs, North America our poultry, Spain our 
sheep, and almost every country sends its dog. The 

* Humboldt, Georg. des Plantes, p. 29. It appears, however, to be 
now ascertained that the edible potato is found wild in the neigh- 
bourhood of Valparaiso. Mr. Sabine in the Horticultural Trans, 
vol. V. p. 249. 



62 



TEEEESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



products which are ingredients in our luxuries, and 
which we cannot naturalise at home, we raise in our 
colonies ; the cotton, coffee, sugar of the east are thus 
transplanted to the farthest west ; and man lives in the 
middle of a rich and varied abundance, vdiich de^Dends 
on the facility vvith which plants and animals and 
modes of culture can be transferred into lands far 
removed from those in which nature had placed them. 
And this plenty and variety of material comforts is the 
companion and the mark of advantages and improve- 
ments in social life, of progTess in art and science, of 
activity of thought, of energy of purpose, and of ascen- 
dancy of character. 

The differences in the productions of different 
countries wliicli lead to the habitual intercourse of 
nations, and through this to the benefits which we 
have thus briefly noticed, do not all depend upon 
the diff^erences of temperature and chmate alone. 
But these differences are among the causes, and 
are some of the most important causes, or conditions, 
of thfe variety of products; and thus that arrange- 
ment of the earth's form and motion, from which the 
different climates of different places arise, is con- 
nected with the social and moral welfare a.nd advance- 
ment of man. 

We conceive that this connexion, though there must 
be to our apprehension much that is indefinite and 
uncertain in tracmg its details, is yet a point where we 
may perceive the profound and comprehensive relations 
established by the counsel and foresight of a wise and 
good Creator of the world and of man, by whom the 



GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



63 



progress and elevation of the human species was neither 
uncontemplated nor uncared for. 

ly. We have traced, in the variety of organised beings, 
an adaptation to the variety of climates, a provision for 
the sustentation of man all over the globe, and an 
instrument for the promotion of civilisation and many 
attendant benefits. We have not considered this 
variety as itself a purpose which we can perceive or 
understand without reference to some ulterior end. 
Many persons, however, and especially those who are 
abeady in the habit of referiing the world ^to its 
Creator, will probably see sometliing admirable in 
itself in this vast variety of created things. There 
is indeed sometliing well fitted to produce and confirm 
a reverential wonder, in these apparently inexhaustible 
stores of new forms of being and modes of existence ; 
the fixity of the laws of ep.ch class, its distinctness from 
all others, its relations to many. Structures and habits 
and characters are exhibited, which are connected and 
distinguished according to every conceivable degree of 
subordination and analogy, in their resemblances and 
m their differences. Every new country we explore 
presents us with new combinations, where the possible 
cases seemed to be exliausted ; and v/ith new resem- 
blances and differences constructed as if to elude what 
conjectm'e might have hit upon, by proceeding from the 
old ones. Most of those who have any large portion of 
nature brought under their notice in this point of view, 
are led to feel that there is, in such a creation, a 
harmony, a beauty, and a dignity, of which the 
impression is irresistible; which would have been 



64 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



wanting in any more uniform and limited system 
such as we might try to imagine ; and v/liich of itself 
gives to tlie arrangements, by wliich such a variety on 
the earth's surface is produced, the character of well 
devised means to a worthy end. 

Chap. VIII. — The Comtituents of Climate. 

We have spoken of the steady average of the climate 
at each place, of the difference of this average at 
different places, and of the adaptation of organised 
beings to this character in the laws of the elements 
by which they are effected. But this steadiness in the 
general effect of the elements, is the result of an 
extremely complex and extensive machinery. Climate, 
in its wider sense, is not one single agent, but is the 
aggregate result of a great number of different agents, 
governed by different laws, producing effects of various 
kinds. The steadiness of this compound agency is not 
the steadiness of a permanent condition, like that of a 
body at rest; but it is the steadiness of a state of 
constant change and movement, succession and alter- 
nation, seeming accident and irregularity. It is a 
perpetual repose, combined with a perpetual motion ; 
and invariable average of most variable quantities. 
Now, the manner in which such a state of things is 
produced, deserves, we conceive, a closer consideration. 
It may be useful to show how the particular laws of the 
action of each of the elements of climate are so adjusted 
that they do not disturb this general constancy. 

The principal constituents of climate are the fol- 



LAWS OF I-IEAT. THE EAETII. 65 

lowing: — the temperature of tlie earth, of the water, 
of the air: — the distribution of the aqueous vapour 
contained in the atmosphere : the winds and rains by 
Yvdiich the equilibrium of the atmosphere is restored 
when it is in any degree disturbed. The effects of 
light, of electricity, probably of other causes also, are 
no doubt important in the economy of the vegetable 
world, but these agencies have not been reduced by 
scientific inquiries to such lavfs as to admit of their 
being treated with the same exactness and certainty 
which we can obtain in the case of those fii^st mentioned. 

We shall proceed to trace some of the peculiarities 
in the laws of the different physical agents which are in 
action at the earth's surface, and the manner in which 
these peculiarities bear upon the general result. 

The Laws of Heat tvitli respect to the Earth. 

One of the main causes which determine the tempe- 
rature of each climate is the effect of the sun's rays on- 
the solid mass of the earth. The lavf s of this operation 
have been recently made out with considerable exact- 
ness, experimentally by Leslie, theoretically by Fourrier, 
and by other inquirers. The theoretical inquiries have 
required the application of very complex and abstruse 
mathematical investigations ; but the general character 
of the operation ma}^ perhaps, be made easily intelligible. 

The earth, like all solid bodies, transmits into its 
interior the impressions of heat which it receives at 
the surface ; and throws off the superfluous heat from 
its surface into the surrounding space. These processes 



66 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



are called conduction and radiation, and have eacii their 
ascertained mathematical laws. 

By the laws of conduction, the daity impressions of 
heat which the earth receives, follow each other into 
the interior of the mass, like the waves which start from 
the edge of a canal ; * and like them, become more and 
more famt as they proceed, till they melt into the 
general level of the internal temperature. The heat 
thus transmitted is accumulated in the interior of the 
earth, as in a reservoir, and flows from one part to 
another of this reservoir. The parts of the earth near 
the equator are more heated by the sun than other 
parts, and on this account there is a perpetual internal 
conduction of heat from the equatorial to other parts of 
the sphere. And as all parts of the surface throw off 
heat by radiation, in the polar regions, where the 
surface receives little in return from the sun, a con- 
stant waste is produced. There is thus from the polar 
parts a perpetual dispersion of heat in the surrounding 
space, wliich is supplied by a perpetual internal flow 
from the equator towards each pole. 

Here, then, is a kind of circulation of heat; and 
the quantity and rapidity of this circulation, deter- 
mine the quantity of heat in the solid part of the 
earth, and in each portion of it ; and through this, 

* The resemblance consists in this ; tliat we have a strip of greater 
temperature accompanied by a strip of smaller temperature, these strips 
arising from the diurnal and nocturnal impressions respectively, and 
being in motion ; as in the waves of a canal, we have a moving strip of 
greater elevation accompanied by a strip of smaller elevation. We do 
not here refer to any hypothetical undulations in the fluid matter of 
heat. 



LAWS OF HEAT. THE EAETH. 



67 



the mean temperature belonging to each point on 
its surface. 

If tlie earth conducted heat more rapidly than it 
does, the inequalities of temperature would be more 
quickly balanced, and the temperatin-e of the ground in 
different parts of the globe of the earth (below the 
reach of annual and diurnal variations), w^ould differ less 
than it does. If the surface radiated more rapidly than 
it does, the flow of heat from the polar regions would 
increase, and the temperature of the interior of the 
globe would find a lower level; the dift'erences of 
temperatm^e in different latitudes would increase, but 
the mean temperature of the globe w^ould diminish. 

There is nothmg which, so far as w^e can perceive, 
determines necessarily, either the conducting or the 
radiating power of the earth to its present value. The 
measures of such powers, in different substances, differ 
very widely. If the earth were a globe of pure iron, it 
would conduct heat, probably, twenty times as well as 
it does ; if its surface were polished iron, it would onl}^ 
radiate one-sixth as much as it does. Changes in the 
amount of the conduction and radiation far less than 
these, w^ould, probably, subvert the whole thermal 
constitution of the earth, and make it uninhabitable 
by any of its present vegetable or animal tenants. 

One of the results of the laws of heat, as they exist 
in the globe, is, that, by their action, the thermal state 
tends to a limited condition, which, once reached, re- 
mains constant and steady, as it now is. The oscil- 
lations or excursions from the mean condition, produced 
by any temporary cause, are rapidly suppressed ; the 

F 2 



68 



TERRESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



deviations of seasons from their usual standard pro- 
duce only a small and transient effect. The impression 
of an extremely liot day upon the ground melts almost 
immediately into the average internal heat. The effect 
of a hot summer, in like manner, is soon lost in its 
progress through the globe. If this were otherwise, if 
the inequahties and oscillations of heat went on, through 
the interior of the earth, retaining the same value, or 
becoming larger and larger, we might have the extreme 
heats or colds of one x)lace making their appearance at 
another place after a long interval ; like a conflagration 
which creeps along a street and bursts out at a point 
remote from its origin. 

It appears, therefore, that both the present differences 
of cHmate, and the steadiness of the average at each 
place, depend upon the form of the present laws of 
heat, and on the arbitrary magnitudes which determine 
the rate of conduction and radiation. The laws are 
such as to secure us from increasing and destructive 
inequalities of heat ; the arbitrary magnitudes are data 
to which the organic world is adjusted. 

Chap. IX. — The Lmvs of Heat with respect to Water. 

The manner in which heat is transmitted through 
fluids is altogether different from the mode in which it 
passes through solids ; and hence the waters of the 
earth's surface produce peculiar effects upon its condi- 
tion as to temperature. Moreover, water is susceptible 
of evaporation in a degree depending upon the increase 
of heat; and in consequence of this property it has 



LAWS OF HEAT. WATER. 



69 



most extensive and important functions to discliarge in 
tlie economy of nature. We will consider some of tlie 
offices of this fluid. 

I. Heat is communicated through water, not by 
being conducted from one j^art of the fluid to another, 
as in solid bodies, but (at least principally) by being 
carried with the parts of the fluid by means of an 
intestine motion. Water expands and becomes lighter 
by heat, and, therefore, if the upper parts be cooled 
below the subjacent temperature, this uj)per portion 
will become heavier than that below, bulk for bulk, and 
will descend through it, while the lower portion rises 
to take the u]3per j^lace. In this manner the colder 
parts descend, and the warmer parts ascend by con- 
trar}^ currents, and, by their interchange and mixture, 
reduce the whole to a temperature at least as low as 
that of the surface. And this equalisation of tempera- 
ture by means of such currents, is an operation of a 
much more rapid nature than the slow motion of 
conduction by which heat creeps through a solid body. 
Hence, alternations of heat and cold, as day and night, 
summer and winter, produce in water inequalities of 
temperature much smaller than those which occur in a 
solid body. The heat communicated is less, for trans- 
parent fluids imbibe heat ver}^ slowly ; and the cold 
impressed on the surface is soon diffused through the 
mass by internal circulation. 

Hence it follows that the ocean, which covers so large 
a portion of the earth, and affects the temperature of 
the whole surface by its influence, produces the effect 
of making the alternations of heat and cold much less 



70 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



violent than they would be if this covering were 
removed. The different temperatures of its upper 
and lower parts produce a current which draws the 
sea, and by means of the sea, the air, towards the mean 
temperature. And this kind of circulation is produced, 
not only between the upper and lower parts, but also 
between distant tracts of the ocean. The great Gulf 
Stream which rushes out of the Gulf of Mexico, and 
runs across the Atlantic to the western shores of 
Europe, carries with it a portion of the tropical heat 
into the northern regions : and the returning current 
which descends along the coast of Africa, tends to cool 
the parts nearer the equator. Great as the difference of 
temperature is in different climates, it would be still 
greater if there were not this equalising and moderating 
power exerted constantly over the whole surface. 
Without this influence, it is probable that the two 
polar portions of the earth, which are locked in 
perpetual ice and snow, and almost destitute of life, 
would be much increased. 

We find an illustration of this effect of the ocean on 
temperature, in the peculiarities of the climates of 
maritime tracts and islands. The climate of such 
portions of the earth, corrected in some measure by 
the temperature of the neighbouring sea, is more 
equable than that of places in the same latitudes 
differently situated. London is cooler in summer 
and warmer in winter than Paris. 

II. Water expands by heat and contracts by cold, as 
has been already said ; and in consequence of this 
property, the coldest portions of the fluid generally 



LAWS OP HEAT. WATER. 71 

occupy tlie lower parts. The continued progress of 
cold produces congelation. If, therefore, the law just 
mentioned had been strictly true, the lower parts of 
water would have been first frozen ; and being once 
frozen, hardly any heat applied at the surface could 
have melted them, for the warm fluid- could not have 
descended through the colder parts. This is so far the 
case, that in a vessel containing ice at the bottom and 
water at the top, Rumford made the upper fluid boil 
without thawing the congealed cake below. 

Now, a law of water with respect to heat operating 
in this manner, would have been very inconvenient if 
it had prevailed in our lakes and seas. They would 
all have had a bed of ice, increasing with every occasion, 
till the whole was frozen. We could have no bodies 
of water, except such pools on the surfaces of these icy 
reservoirs as the summer sun could thaw, to be again 
frozen to the bottom with the first frosty night. The 
law of the regular contraction of water by cold till it 
became ice, would, therefore, be destructive of all the 
utility of our seas and lakes. How is this inconvenience 
obviated ? 

It is obviated by a modification of the law which 
takes place when the temperature approaches this 
limit. Water contracts by the increase of cold, till 
we come near the freezing temperature ; but then, by 
a further increase of cold, it contracts no more, but 
expands till the point at which it becomes ice. It 
contracts in cooling down to 40 degrees of Fahrenheit's 
thermometer ; in cooling further it expands, and when 
cooled to 32 degrees, it freezes. Hence the greatest 



72 



TEMIESTUIAL ADAPTATiO?s'S. 



density of the fluid is at 40 degrees, and water of this 
temperature, or near it, will lie at the bottom with 
cooler water or with ice floating above it. However 
much the surface be cooled, water colder than 40 cannot 
descend to displace water warmer than itself. Hence 
we can never have ice formed at the bottom of deep 
water. In approaching the freezing point, the coldest 
water will rise to the surface, and the congelation will 
take place there ; and the ice so formed will remain at 
the surface, exposed to the warmth of the sun-beams 
and the air, and will not survive any long continuance 
of such action. 

Another peculiarity in the laws which regulate the 
action of cold on water is, that in the very act of 
freezing a further sudden and considerable expansion 
takes place. Many persons will have known instances 
of vessels burst by the freezing of water in them. The 
consequence of this expansion is, that the specific 
gravity of ice is less than that of water of any tempera- 
ture ; and it therefore always floats in the unfrozen 
fluid. If this expansion of crystallisation did not 
exist, ice would float in water which was below 40 
degrees, but would sink when the fluid was above that 
temperature : as the case is, it floats under all circum- 
stances. The icy remnants of the effects of winter, 
which the river carries down its stream, are visible on 
its surface till they melt away ; and the icebergs which 
are detached from the shores of the polar seas, drift 
along, exposed to the sun and air, as well as to the 
water in which they are immersed. 

These laws of the effect of temperature on water are 



LAWS OP KEAT. WATEll. 



73 



truly remarkable in tlieir adaptation to tlie beneficial 
course of things at the earth's surface. Water contracts 
by cold ; it thus equalises the temperature of various 
times and j)laces ; but if its contraction were continued 
all the way to the freezing point, it would bind a great 
part of the earth in fetters of ice. The contraction, 
then, is here replaced by expansion, in a manner which 
but slightly modifies the former effects, while it com- 
pletely obviates the bad consequences. The further 
expansion which takes place at the point of freezing, 
still further facilitates the rapid removal of the icy 
chains, in which parts of the earth's surface are at 
certain seasons bound. 

We do not know how^ far these laws of expansion 
are connected with, and depend on, more remote and 
general properties of this fluid, or of all fluids. But 
we have no reason to believe that, by whatever means 
they operate, they are not laws selected from among 
other laws wdiich might exist, as in fact for other fluids 
other laws do exist. And we have all the evidence 
which the most remarkable furtherance of important 
purposes can give us, that they are selected, and selected 
with a beneficial design. 

III. As water becomes ice by cold, it becomes steam 
by heat. In common language, steam is the name 
given to the vapour of hot water ; but in fact a vapour 
or steam rises from water at all temperatures, however 
low, and even from ice. The expansive force of this 
vapour increases rapidly as the heat increases ; so that 
when we reach the heat of boiling water, it operates in 
a far more striking manner than when it is colder ; but 



74 



TEREESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



in all cases the surface of water is covered with an 
atmosphere of aqueous vapour, the pressure or tension 
of which is limited by the temperature of the water. 
To each degree of pressure in steam there is a con- 
stituent temperature corresponding. If the surface of 
water is not pressed by vapour with the force thus 
corresponding to its temperature, an immediate evapo- 
ration will supply the deficiency. We can compare 
the tension of such vapour with that of our common 
atmosphere; the pressure of the latter is measured 
by the barometrical column, about thirty inches of 
mercury ; that of watery vapour is equal to one inch of 
mercury at the constituent temperature of 80 degrees, 
and to one-fifth of an inch at the temperature of 32 
degrees. 

Hence, if that part of the atmosphere which consists 
of common air were annihilated, there would still 
remain an atmosphere of aqueous vapour, arising from 
the waters and moist ]3arts of the earth ; and in the 
existing state of things this vapour rises in the atmo- 
sphere of dry air. Its distribution and effects are 
materially influenced by the vehicle in which it is thus 
carried, as we shaU hereafter notice ; but at present 
we have to observe the exceeding utility of water in this 
shape. We remark how suitable and indispensable to 
the well-being of the creation it is, that the fluid should 
possess the property of assuming such a form under 
such circumstances. 

The moisture which floats in the atmosphere is of 
most essential use to vegetable life.* " The leaves 



* Loudon, 1219. 



LAWS OF HEAT. WATEE. 



7o 



of living plants appear to act upon this vapour in its 
elastic form, and to absorb it. Some vegetables increase 
in weight from this cause when suspended in the 
atmosphere and unconnected with the soil, as the 
house-leek and the aloe. In very intense heats, and 
when the soil is dry, the life of plants seems to be 
preserved by the absorbent power of their leaves." It 
follows from what has akeady been said, that, with 
an increasing heat of the atmosphere, an increasing 
quantity of vapoiu^ mil rise into it, if supplied from 
any quarter. Hence it appears that aqueous vapour 
is most abundant in the atmosphere when it is most 
needed for the purposes of life ; and that when other 
sources of moisture are cut off, this is most copious. 

IV. Clouds are produced by aqueous vapour when it 
returns to the state of water. This process is con- 
densation, the reverse of evaporation. When vapour 
exists in the atmosphere, if in any manner the tempe- 
rature becomes lower than the constituent temperature, 
requisite for the maintenance of the vapoury state, 
some of the steam will be condensed and will become 
water. It is in this manner that the curl of steam 
from the spout of a boiling tea-kettle becomes visible, 
being cooled down as it rushes to the air. The steam 
condenses into a fine watery powder, which is carried 
about by the little aerial currents. Clouds are of the 
same nature with such curls, the condensation being 
generally produced when air, charged with aqueous 
vapour, is mixed with a colder current, or has its 
temperature diminished in any other manner. 

Clouds, while they retain that shape, are of the 



76 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



most essential use to vegetable and animal life. The}' 
moderate the fervour of the sun, in a manner agreeable, 
to a greater or less degree, in all climates, and grateful 
no less to vegetables than to animals. Duhamel says 
that plants grow more during a week of cloudy weather 
than a month of dry and hot. It has been observed 
that vegetables are far more refreshed by being watered 
in cloud}^ than in clear weather. In the latter case, 
probably the supply of fluid is too rapidly carried off by 
evaporation. Clouds also moderate the alternations of 
temperature, by checking the radiation from the earth. 
The coldest nights are those which occur under a 
cloudless winter sky. 

The uses of clouds, therefore, in this stage of their 
history, are by no means inconsiderable, and seem to 
indicate to us that the laws of their formation were 
constructed with a view to the i)^^i'poses of organised 
life. 

V. Clouds produce rain. In the formation of a cloud 
the precipitation of moisture probably forms a fine 
watery poivder, which remains suspended in the air in 
consequence of the mimiteness of its particles : but if 
from any cause the precipitation is collected in larger 
portions, and becomes droj)s, these descend by their 
weight and produce a shower. 

Thus rain is another of the consequences of the 
properties of water with respect to heat ; its uses are 
the results of the laws of evaporation and condensation. 
These uses, with reference to plants, are too obvious 
and too numerous to be described. It is evident that 
on its quantity and distribution dei^end in a great 



LAWS OF HEAT. WATEE. 



77 



measure tlie prosperity of tlie vegetable IdngcTom : and 
different climates are fitted for different productions, 
no less by the relations of dry weather and showers, 
than by those of hot and cold. 

VI. Returning back still further in the changes which 
cold can produce on water, we come to snoiv and ice : 
snow being apparently frozen cloud or vapour, aggre- 
gated by a confused action of crystalline laws ; and ice 
being water in its fluid state, solidified by the same 
crystalline forces. The impression of these agents on 
the animal feelings is generally unpleasant, and we are 
in the habit of considering them as symptoms of the 
power of winter to interrupt that state of the elements 
in which they are subservient to life. Yet, even in this 
form, they are not without their uses.* " Snow and 
ice are bad conductors of cold ; and when the ground 
is covered with snow, or the surface of the soil or of 
water is frozen, the roots or bulbs of plants beneath 
are protected by the congealed water from the influence 
of the atmosphere, the temperature of which, in northern 
Avinters, is usually very much below the freezing point ; 
and this water becomes the first nourishment of the 
plant in early spring. The expansion of water duruig 
its congelation, at which time its volume increases 
one-tweKth, and its contraction in bulk during a thaw, 
tend to pulverise the soil, to separate its parts from 
each other, and to make it more permeable to the 
influence of the air." In consequence of the same 
slowness in the conduction of heat wliich snow thus 
possesses, the arctic traveller finds his bed of snow of 



Loudon, 1214. 



78 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



no intolerable coldness; the Esquimaux is sheltered 
from the inclemency of the season in his snow hut, and 
travels rapidly and agreeably over the frozen surface 
of the sea. The uses of those arrangements, which at 
first appear productive only of pain and inconvenience, 
are well suited to give confidence and hope to our 
researches for such usefulness in every part of the 
creation. They have thus a peculiar value in adding 
connexion and universahty to our perception of bene- 
ficial design. 

YII. There is a peculiar circumstance still to be 
noticed in the changes from ice to water and from 
water to steam. These changes take place at a parti- 
cular and invariable degree of heat ; yet they do not 
take place suddenly when we increase the heat to this 
degree. This is a very curious arrangement. The 
temperature makes a stand, as it were, at the point 
where thaw and where boiling take place. It is 
necessary to apply a considerable quantity of heat to 
produce these effects; all which heat disappears, or 
becomes latent, as it is called. We cannot raise the 
temperature of a thawing mass of ice till we have 
thawed the whole. We cannot raise the temperature 
of boiling water, or of steam rising from it, till we have 
converted all the water into steam. Any heat that we 
api)ly while these changes are going on is absorbed in 
producing the changes. 

The consequences of this property of latent heat are 
very important. It is on this account that the changes 
now spoken of necessarily occupy a considerable time. 
Each part in succession must have a proper degree of 



LAWS OF HEAT. WATER. 



79 



lieat applied to it. If it were otherwise, thaw and 
evaporation must be instantaneous ; at the first touch 
of warmth, all the snow wliich lies on the roofs of our 
houses would descend like a water-spout into the 
streets : all that which rests on the ground would rush 
like an inundation into the water courses. The hut of 
the Esquimaux would vanish like a house in a ]3anto- 
mime : the icy floor of the river would be gone without 
giving any warnmg to the skater or the traveller : and 
when, in heating our water, we reached the boiling 
point, the whole fluid would " flash into steam," (to use 
the expression of engineers,) and dissipate itself in 
the atmosphere, or settle in dew on the neighbouring 
objects. 

It is obviously necessary for the purposes of human 
life, that these changes should be of a more gradual 
and manageable kind than such as we have now 
described. Yet tliis gradual progress of freezing and 
thawing, of evaporation and condensation, is produced, 
so far as we can discover, by a particular contrivance. 
Like the freezing of water from the top, or the floating 
of ice, the moderation of the rate of these changes 
seems to be the result of a violation of a law : that is, 
the simple rule regarding the effects of change of tem- 
perature, wliich at first sight appears to be the law, 
and which, from its simplicity, would seem to us the 
most obvious law for these as well as other cases, is 
modified at certain critical points, so as to produce 
these advantageous effects : — why may we not say in 
order to produce such effects ? 

VIII. Another office of water, which it discharges by 



80 



TEREESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



means of its relations to lieat, is that of supplying onr 
springs. There can be no doubt that the old hypotheses, 
which represent springs as drawing their supplies from 
large subterranean reservoirs of water, or from the sea 
by a process of subterraneous filtration, are erroneous 
and untenable. The quantity of evaporation from water 
and from wet ground is found to be amply sufficient 
to supply the requisite drain. Mr. Dalton calculated* 
that the quantity of rain which falls in Englamd 
is thirt3^-six inches a year. Of this he reckoned 
that thirteen inches flow off to the sea by the rivers, 
and that the remaining twenty-three inches are raised 
again from the ground by evaporation. The thirteen 
inches of water are of course supplied by evaporation 
from the sea, and are carried back to the land through 
the atmosphere. Yapour is perpetually rising from the 
ocean, and is condensed in the hills and high lands, 
and through their pores and crevices descends, till it is 
deflected, collected, and conducted out to the day, by 
some stratum or channel which is watertight. The 
condensation which takes place in the higher parts of 
a country, may easily be recognised in the mists and 
rains which are the frequent occupants of such regions. 
The coldness of the atmosphere and other causes pre- 
cipitate the moisture in clouds and showers, and in the 
former as well as in the latter shape, it is condensed 
and absorbed by the cool ground. Thus a perpetual 
and compound cii'culation of the waters is kept up ; a 
narrower circle between the evaporation and precipita- 
tion of the land itself, the rivers and streams only 

* Manchester Memoirs, v. 357 



LAWS OF HEAT. WATER. 



81 



occasionally and partially forming a portion of the 
circuit ; and a wider interchange between the sea and 
the lands which feed the springs, the water ascending 
I)erpetually by a thousand currents through the air, and 
descending by the gradually converging branches of the 
rivers, till it is again returned into the great reservoir 
of the ocean. 

In every country, these two portions of the aqueous 
circulation have their regular, and nearly constant, 
proportion. In this kmgdom the relative quantities 
are, as we have said, 23 and 13. A due distribution of 
these circulating fluids in each country appears to be 
necessary to its organic health ; to the habits of vege- 
tables, and of man. We have every reason to believe 
that it is kept up from year to year as steadily as the 
circulation of the blood in the veins and arteries of 
man. It is maintained by machinery very different, 
indeed, from that of the human system, but apparently 
as well, and therefore we may say as clearly, as that, 
adapted to its purposes. 

By this machinery we have a connection established 
between the atmospheric changes of remote countries. 
Eains in England are often introduced by a south-east 
wind. " Vapour brought to us by such a wind, must 
have been generated in countries to the south and east 
of our island. It is therefore, probably, in the extensive 
valleys watered by the Meuse, the Moselle, and the 
Ehine, if not from the more distant Elbe, with the 
Oder and the Weser, that the water rises, in the midst 
of sunshine, which is soon afterwards to form our 
clouds, and pour down our thunder- showers." " Drought 

a 



82 



TEERESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



and sunshine in one part of Europe rnay be as neces- 
sary to the production of a wet season in another, as it 
is on the great scale of the continents of Africa and 
South America ; where the plains, during one half the 
year, are burnt up, to feed the springs of the moun- 
tains ; which in their turn contribute to inundate the 
fertile valleys, and ^orepare them for a luxuriant vege- 
tation."* The properties of water which regard heat 
make one vast watering -engine of the atmosphere. 

Chap. X.— T/ie Laws of Heat loith respect to Air. 

We have seen in the preceding chapter, how many 
and how important are the offices discharged by the 
aqueous part of the atmosphere. The aqueous part is, 
however, a very small part only : it may vary, perhaps, 
from less than 1-lOOdth to nearly as much as l-20th 
in weight of the whole aerial ocean. We have to offer 
some considerations with regard to the remainder of 
the mass. 

I. In the first place we may observe that the aerial 
atmosphere is necessary as a vehicle for the aqueous 
vapour. Salutary as is the operation of this last 
element to the whole organised creation, it is a sub- 
stance which would not have answered its purposes if 
it had been administered pure. It requires to be 
diluted and associated with dry air, to make it service- 
able. A little consideration will show this. 

We can suppose the earth with no atmosphere except 
the vapour which arises from its watery parts : and if 



* Howard on the Climate of London, vol. ii., pp. 216, 217. 



LAWS OP HEAT. AIR. 



83 



we suppose also the equatorial parts of the globe to be 
hot, and the polar parts cold, we may easily see what 
would be the consequence. The waters at the equator, 
and near the equator, would produce steam of greater 
elasticity, rarity, and temperature, than that which 
occupies the regions further poleivards; and such steam, 
as it came in contact with the colder vapour of a higher 
latitude, would be precipitated into the form of water. 
Hence there would be a perpetual current of steam 
from the equatorial parts towards each pole, which 
would be condensed, would fall to the surface, and flow 
back ta the equator in the form of fluid. We should 
have a circulation which might be regarded as a species 
of regulated distillation.* On a globe so constituted, 
the sky of the equatorial zone would be perpetually 
cloudless ; but in all other latitudes we should have an 
uninterrupted shroud of clouds, fogs, rains,. and, near 
the poles, a continual fall of snow. This wmild be 
balanced by a constant flow of the currents of the 
ocean from each pole towards the equator. We should 
have an excessive circulation of moisture, but no sun- 
shine, and probably only mmute changes in the intensity 
and appearances of one eternal drizzle or shower. 

It is plain that this state of things would but ill 
answer the ends of vegetable and animal life : so that 
even if the lungs of animals and the leaves of plants 
were so constructed as to breathe steam instead of air, 
an atmosphere of unmixed steam would deprive those 
creatures of most of the other external conditions of 
their well-being. 

* Daniell. Meteor. Ess., p. 56. 

G 2 



84 



TERUESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



The real state of things which we enjoy, the steam 
being mixed in our breath and in our sky in a moderate 
quantity, gives rise to results very different from those 
which have been described. The machinery by which 
these results are produced is not a little curious. It is, 
in fact, the machinery of the iceatlier, and therefore the 
reader will not be surprised to find it both complex and 
apparently uncertain in its working. At the same time 
some of the general principles which govern it seem 
now to be pretty well made out, and they offer no small 
evidence of beneficent arrangement. 

Besides our atmosphere of aqueous vapour, we have 
another and far larger atmosphere of common air; a 
]dermanently elastic fluid, that is, one which is not con- 
densed into a liquid form by pressure or cold, such as 
it is exposed to in the order of natural events. The 
pressure of the dry air is about 29-| inches of mercury; 
that of the watery vapour, perhaps, half an inch. Now 
if we had the earth quite dry, and covered with an 
atmosphere of dry air, we can trace in a great measure 
what would be the results, supposing still the equatorial 
zone to be hot, and the temperature of the surface to 
decrease perpetually as we advance into higher lati- 
tudes. The air at the equator would be rarefied by the 
heat, and would be perpetually displaced below by the 
denser portions which belong to cooler latitudes. We 
should have a current of air from the equator to the 
poles in the higher regions of the atmosphere, and at 
the surface a returning current setting towards the 
equator to fill up the void so created. Such aerial 
currents, combined with the rotatory motion of the 



LAWS OF HEAT. AIR. 



85 



eartli, would produce oblique winds ; and we have, in 
fact, instances of winds so loroduced, in the trade winds, 
which between the tropics blow constantly from the 
quarters between east and north, and are, we know, 
balanced by opposite currents m higher regions. The 
effect of a heated surface of land would be the same as 
that of the heated zone of the equator, and would attract 
to it a sea breeze during the day time, a phenomenon, 
as we pJso know, of perpetual occurrence. 

Now a mass of dry au- of such a character as this, is 
by far the dominant part of our atmosphere; and hence 
carries with it in its motions the tliinner and smaller 
eddies of aqueous vapour. The latter fluid m.£Lj be 
considered as permeatmg and moving in the interstices 
of the former, as a spring of water flows through a sand 
rock.* The lower current of air is, as has been said, 
directed towards the equator, and hence it resists the 
motion of the steam, the tendency of which is in the 
opposite direction ; and prevents or much retards that 
continual flow of hot vapour into colder regions, by 
which a constant precipitation would take place in the 
latter situations. 

If, in this state of things, the flow of the current of 
air, which blows from any colder place into a warmer 
region, be retarded or stopped, the aqueous vapom'S 
will now be able to make their way to the colder point, 
where they will be precipitated in clouds or sliowxrs. 

Thus, in the lower part of the atmosphere, there are 
tendencies to a current of air in one dhection, and a 
cuiTent of vapour in the opposite ; and these tendencies 



* Daniell. p. 129. 



86 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS, 



exist in the average weather of places situated at a 
moderate distance from the equator. The air tends 
from the colder to the warmer parts, the vapour from 
the warmer to the colder. 

The various distribution of land and sea, and many 
other causes, make these currents far from simple. 
But in general the air current predominates, and keeps 
the skies clear and the moisture dissolved. Occasional 
and irregular occurrences disturb this x)redominance ; 
the moisture is then precipitated, the skies are clouded, 
and the clouds may descend in copious rains. 

These alternations of fair weather and showers 
appear to be much more favourable to vegetable and 
animal life than any uniform course of weather could 
have been. To produce this variety, we have two 
antagonist forces, by the struggle of which such changes 
occur. Steam and air, two transparent and elastic 
fluids, expansible by heat, are in many respects and 
properties very like each other. Yet the same heat, 
similarly applied to the globe, produces at the surface 
currents of these fluids, tending in opposite directions. 
And these currents mix and balance, conspire and 
interfere, so that our trees and fields have alternately 
water and sunshine ; our fruits and grain are succes- 
sively developed and matm^ed. Why should such laws 
of heat and elastic fluids so obtain, and be so com- 
bined ? Is it not in order that they may be fit for 
such of&ces ? There is here an arrangement, which 
no chance could have produced. The details of this 
apparatus may be beyond our power of tracing; its 
springs may be out of our sight. Such circumstances 



LAWS OF HEAT. AIR. 



87 



do not make it the less a curious and beautiful con- 
trivance : they need not prevent our recognising the 
skill and benevolence which we can discover. 

II. But we have not yet done with the machinery of 
the weather. In ascending from the earth's surface 
through the atmosphere, we find a remarkable difference 
in the heat and in the pressure of the air. It becomes 
much colder, and much lighter; men's feelings tell 
them this ; and the thermometer and barometer con- 
firm these indications. And here again we find some- 
tliing to remark. 

In both the simple atmospheres of which we have 
spoken, the one of aii' and the one of steam, the pro- 
perty which we have mentioned must exist. In each 
of them, both the temperature and the tension would 
diminish in ascending. But they would diminish at 
very different rates. The temperature, for instance, 
would decrease much more rapidly for the same height 
in dry air than in steam. If we begin with a tempera- 
ture of 80 degrees at the surface, on ascending 5,000 
feet the steam is still 76^ degrees, the air is only 64^ 
degTees; at 10,000 feet, the steam is 73 degrees, the 
air 48 J degrees; at 15,000 feet, steam is at 70 degrees; 
air has faUen below the freezing point to 31 J degrees. 
Hence these two atmospheres cannot exist together 
without modifying one another : one must heat or cool 
the other, so that the coincident parts may be of the 
same temperature. Tliis accordingly does take place, 
and this effect influences very greatly the constitution 
of the atmosphere. For the most part, the steam is 
compelled to accommodate itself to the temperature of 



88 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



the air, the latter being of much the greater bulk. But 
if the upper parts of the aqueous vapour be cooled 
down to the temperature of the air, they will not by 
any means exert on the lower parts of the same vapour 
so great a pressure as the gaseous form of these could 
bear. Hence, there will be a deficiency of moisture in 
the lower part of the atmosphere, and if water exist 
there it will rise by evaporation, the surface feeling an 
insufficient tension; and there will thus be a fresh 
supply of vapour upwards. As, however, the upper 
regions alread}^ contain as much as their temperature 
will support in the state of g as, a precipitation will now 
take place, and the fluid thus formed will descend till 
it arrives in a lower region, where the tension and 
temperature are again adapted to its evaporation. 

Thus, we can have no equilibrium in such an atmo- 
sphere, but a perpetual circulation of vapour between 
its upper and lower parts. The currents of air which 
move about in different dii-ections, at different altitudes, 
will be differently charged with moisture, and as they 
touch and mingle, lines of cloud are formed, which 
grow and join, and are spread out in floors, or rolled 
together in piles. These, again, by an additional acces- 
sion of humidity, are formed into drops, and descend in 
showers into the lower regions, and if not evaporated 
in their fall, reach the surface of the earth. 

The varying occurrences thus produced, tend to 
multiply and extend their own variety. The ascend- 
ing streams of vapour carry with them that latent heat 
belonging to their gaseous state, which, when they are 
condensed, they give out as sensible heat. They thus 



LAWS OF HEAT. AIU. 



89 



raise the temperature of the upper regions of air, and 
occasion changes in the pressure and motion of its 
currents. The clouds, again, by shading the surface of 
the earth from the sun, dimmish the evaporation by 
which their own substance is supplied, and the heating 
effects by which currents are caused. Even the mere 
mechanical effects of the currents of fluid on the dis- 
tribution of its own pressure, and the dynamical con- 
ditions of its motion, are in a high degree abstruse in 
their principles and complex in their results. It need 
not be wondered, therefore, if the study of this subject 
is very difficult and entangled, and our knowledge, after 
all, very imperfect. 

In the midst of all this apparent confusion, however, 
we can see much that we can understand. And, among 
other things, we may notice some of the consequences 
of the difference of the laws of temperature followed by 
steam and by air in going upwards. One important 
result is that the atmosphere is much drier, near the 
surface, than it would have been if the laws of density 
and temperature had been the same for both gases. 
If this had been so, the air would always have been 
saturated with vapour. It would have contained as 
much as the existing temperature could support, and 
the slightest cooHng of any object would have covered 
it with a Avatery film like dew. As it is, the air contains 
much less than its full quantity of vapour : we may 
often cool an object 10, 20, or 30 degrees without 
obtaining a deposition of water upon it, or reaching the 
dew-point, as it is called. To have had such a dripping 
state of the atmosphere as the former arrangement 



90 



TEREBSTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



would have produced, would have been inconvenient, 
and, so far as we can judge, unsuited to vegetables as 
well as animals. No evaporation from the surface of 
either could have taken place under such conditions. 

The sizes and forms of clouds appear to depend on 
the same circumstance, of the air not being saturated 
with moisture. And it is seemingly much better that 
clouds should be comparatively small and well defined, 
as they are, than that they should fill vast depths of 
the atmosphere with a thm mist, which would have 
been the consequence of the imaginary condition of 
things just mentioned. 

Here then we have another remarkable exliibition of 
two laws, in two nearly similar gaseous fluids, producing 
effects alike in kind, but different in degree, and by the 
flay of their difference giving rise to a new set of 
results, peculiar in their nature and beneficial in their 
tendency. The form of the laws of air and of steam 
with regard to heat might, so far as we can see, have 
been more similar, or more dissimilar, than it now is : 
the rate of each law might have had a different amount 
from its present one, so as quite to alter the relation 
of the two. By the laws having such forms and 
such rates as they have, effects are produced, 
some of which we can distinctly perceive to be bene- 
ficial. Perhaps most persons will feel a strong per- 
suasion, that if we miderstood the operation of these 
laws more distinctly, we should see still more clearly 
the beneficial tendency of these effects, and should 
probably discover others, at present concealed in the 
apparent perplexity of the subject. 



LAWS OF HEAT. AIR. 



91 



III. From what has been said, we may see, in a 
general way, both the causes and the effects of tvincls. 
They arise from any disturbance by temperature, 
motion, j^ressure, &c., of the equilibrium of the atmo- 
sphere, and are the efforts of nature to restore the 
balance. Their office in the economy of nature is to 
carry heat and moisture from one tract to another, and 
they are the great agents in the distribution of tempe- 
rature and the changes of weather. Other purposes 
might easily be ascribed to them in the business of the 
vegetable and animal kingdoms, and in the arts of 
human life, of which we shall not here treat. That 
character in which we now consider them, that of the 
machinery of atmospheric changes, and thus, imme- 
diately or remotely, the instruments of atmospheric 
influences, cannot well be refused them by any 
person. 

IV. There is still one reflection which ought not to 
be omitted. All the changes of the weather, even the 
most violent tempests and torrents of rain, may be 
considered as oscillations about the mean or average 
condition belonging to each place. All these oscilla- 
tions are limited and transient ; the storm spends its 
fury, the inundation passes off, the sky clears, the 
calmer course of nature succeeds. In the forces which 
produce this derangement, there is a provision for 
making it short and moderate. The oscillation stops 
of itself, like the rolling of a ship, when no longer 
impelled by the wind. Now, why should this be so ? 
Why should the oscillations, produced by the conflict 
of so many laws, seemingly quite unconnected with 



92 



TEREESTEIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



each other, be of this converging and subsiding cha- 
racter? Would it be so under all arrangements ? 
Is it a matter of mechanical necessity that disturbance 
must end in the restoration of the medium condition ? 
By no means. There may be an utter subversion of 
the equilibrium. The ship may roll too far, and may 
capsise. The oscillations may go on, becoming larger 
and larger, till all trace of the original condition is 
lost ; till new forces of inequality and disturbance are 
brought into play ; and disorder and irregularity may 
succeed, without apparent limit or check in its own 
nature, like the spread of a conflagration in a city. 
This is a possibility in any combination of mechanical 
forces ; why does it not happen in the one now before 
us ? By what good fortune are the powers of heat, of 
water, of steam, of air, the effects of the earth's annual 
and diurnal motions, and probably other causes, so 
adjusted, that through all their struggles the elemental 
world goes on, upon the whole, so quietly and steadily ? 
"Wliy is the whole fabric of the weather never utterly 
deranged, its balance lost irrecoverably ? "Why is 
there not an eternal conflict, such as the poets imagme 
to take place in their chaos ? 

" For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce, 
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring 
Their embryon atoms : — 

to whom these most adhere 
He rules a moment : Chaos umpire sits. 
And by decision more embroils the fray." * 

A state of things something like that which Milton 

* Par. Lost, b. ii. 



LAWS OP HEAT. AIR. 93 

here seems to have imagmed is, so far as we know, not 
mechanically impossible. It might have continued to 
obtain, if Hot and Cold, and Moist and Dry had not 
been compelled to " run into their places." It will be 
hereafter seen, that in the comparatively simple problem 
of the solar system, a number of very peculiar adjust- 
ments were requisite, in order that the system might 
retain a permanent form, in order that its motions 
might have their cycles, its perturbations their limits 
and period. The problem of the combination of such 
laws and materials as enter into the constitution of the 
atmosphere, is one manifestly of much greater com- 
plexity, and indeed to us probably of insurmountable 
difficulty as a mechanical problem. But all that inves- 
tigation and analogy teach us, tends to show that it wiU 
resemble the other problem in the nature of its result ; 
and that certain relations of its data, and of the laws 
of its elements, are necessary requisites, for securing 
the stability of its mean condition, and for giving a 
small and periodical character to its deviations from 
such a condition. 

It would then be probable, from this reflection alone, 
that in determining the quantity and the law and 
intensity of the forces, of earth, water, air, and heat, 
the same regard has been shown to the permanency 
and stability of the terrestrial system, which may be 
traced in the adjustment of the masses, distances, 
positions, and motions of the bodies of the celestial 
machine. 

This permanency appears to be, of itself, a suitable 
object of contrivance. The purpose for which the 



94 



TERRESTHIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



world was made could be answered only by its being 
preserved. But it lias appeared, from the preceding 
part of this and the former chapter, that this per- 
manence is a permanence of a state of things adapted 
by the most remarkable and multiplied combinations 
to the well-being of man, of animals, of vegetables. 
The adjustments and conditions therefore, beyond the 
reach of our investigation as they are, by which its 
permanence is secured, must be conceived as fitted 
to add, in each of the instances above adduced, to 
the admiration which the several manifestations of 
InteUigent Beneficence are calculated to excite. 

Chap. XI. — The Lmos of Electricity. 

Electricity undoubtedly exists in the atmosphere 
in most states of the air ; but we know very imper- 
fectly the laws of this agent, and are still more ignorant 
of its atmospheric operation. The present state of 
science does not therefore enable us to perceive those 
adaptations of its laws to its uses, which we can discover 
in those cases where the laws and the uses are both of 
them more ap]3arent. 

"We can, however, easily make out that electrical 
agency plays a veiy considerable part among the clouds, 
in their usual conditions and changes. This may be 
easily shown by Franklin's experiment of the electrical 
kite. The clouds are sometimes positively, sometimes 
negatively, charged, and the rain which descends from 
them offers also indications of one or other kind of 
electricity. The changes of wind and alterations of the 



ELECTEICITY. 



95 



form of the clouds are generally accompanied with 
changes in these electrical indications. Every one 
knows that a thunder -cloud is strongly charged with 
the electric fluid, (if it he a fluid,) and that the stroke 
of the lightning is an electrical discharge. We may 
add that it appears, hy recent experiments, that a 
transfer of electricity between plants and the atmo- 
sphere is perpetually going on during the process of 
vegetation. 

We cannot trace very exactly the precise circum- 
stances, in the occurrences of the atmosx^heric regions, 
which depend on the influence of the laws of electricity : 
but we are tolerably certain, from what has been 
already noticed, that if these laws did not exist, or were 
very different fi'om what the}^ now are, the action of the 
clouds and winds, and the course of vegetation, would 
also be other than it now is. 

It is therefore at any rate very probable that elec- 
tricity has its apj)ointed and important purposes in 
the economy of the atmosphere. And this being so, 
we may see a use in the thunder-storm and the stroke 
of the lightning. These violent events are, with regard 
to the electricity of the atmosphere, what winds are 
with regard to heat and moistm^e. They restore the 
equilibrium where it has been distm^bed, and carry the 
fluid from places where it is superfluous, to others 
where it is deficient. 

We are so constituted, however, that these crises 
impress almost every one with a feeling of awe. The 
deep lowering gloom of the thunder- cloud, the over- 
whelming bm'st of the explosion, the flash from which 



96 



TEEEESTHIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



the steadiest eye shrinks, and the irresistible arrow of 
the lightning which no earthly substance can withstand, 
speak of something fearful, even independently of the 
personal danger which they may whisper. They 
convey, far more than any other appearance does, the 
idea of a superior and mighty power, manifesting dis- 
pleasure and threatening punishment. Yet we find 
that this is not the language which they speak to the 
ph5^sical inquirer : he sees these formidable symptoms 
only as the means or the consequences of good. What 
office the thunderbolt and the whirlwind may have in 
the moral world, we cannot here discuss : but certainly 
he must speculate as far beyond the limits of philosophy 
as of piety, who pretends to have learnt that there 
their work has more of evil than of good. In the 
natural world, these apparently destructive agents are, 
like all the other movements and appearances of the 
atmosphere, parts of a great scheme, of which every 
discoverable purpose is marked with beneficence as well 
as wisdom. 



Chap. XII. — The Laws of Magnetism, 

Magnetism has no very obvious or apparently 
extensive office in the mechanism of the atmosphere 
and the earth : but the mention of it may be intro- 
duced, because its ascertained relations to the other 
powers which exist in the system are well suited to 
show us the connection subsisting throughout the 
universe, and to check the suspicion, if any such should 
arise, that any law of nature is without its use. The 



MAGNETISM. 



97 



parts of creation wlien these uses are most obscure, 
are precisely those parts when the laws themselves are 
least known. 

When indeed we consider the vast service of which 
magnetism is to man, by supplying him with that 
invaluable mstrument the mariner's compass, many 
p'ersons will require no further evidence of this pro- 
perty being introduced into the frame of tilings with a 
worthy purpose. As however, we have hitherto excluded 
use in the mis from our line of argument, we shall not 
here make any exception in favour of navigation, and 
what we shall observe belongs to another view of the 
subject. 

Magnetism has been discovered in modern times to 
have so close a connexion with galvanism, that they 
may be said to be almost different aspects of the same 
agent. All the phenomena which we can produce with 
magnets, ^we can imitate with coils of galvanic wire. 
That galvanism exists in the earth, we need no proof. 
Electricity, which appears to differ from galvanic 
currents, much m the same manner in which a fluid at 
rest differs from a fluid in motion, appears to be only 
galvanism in equilibrium, is there in abundance ; and 
recently, Mr. Fox* has shown by experiment that 
metalliferous veins, as they lie in the earth, exercise a 
galvanic influence on each other. Something of this 
kind might have been anticipated ; for masses of metal 
in contact, if they differ in temperature or other 
circumstances, are known to produce a galvanic 
current. Hence we have undoubtedly streams of galvanic 

* Phil. Trans., 1831. 

H 



98 



TEREESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



influence moving along in the earth. Whether or not 
such causes as these produce the directive power of 
the magnetic needle, we cannot here pretend to decide ; 
they can hardly fail to affect it. The Aurora Borealis 
too, probably an electrical phenomenon, is said, under 
particular circumstances, to agitate the magnetic needle. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that, if electricity have 
an important offtce in the atmosphere, magnetism 
should exist in the earth. It seems, likely, that the 
magnetic properties of the earth may be collateral 
results of the existence of the same cause by which 
electrical agency operates ; an agency which, as we 
have already seen, has important offices in the processes 
of vegetable life. And thus magnetism belongs to the 
same system of beneficial contrivance to which elec- 
tricity has .been already traced. 

We see, however, on this subject very dimly and a 
very small way. It can hardly be doubted that 
magnetism has other functions than those we have 
noticed. 

Chap. XIII. — Tlie Properties of Light with regard to Vegetation. 

The illuminating power of light will come under our 
consideration hereafter. Its agency, with regard to 
organic life, is too important not to be noticed, though 
this must be done briefly. Light appears to be as neces- 
sary to the health of plants as air or moisture. A plant 
may, indeed, grow without it, but it does not appear 
that a species could be so continued. Under such a 
privation, the parts which are usually green, assume a 



LIGHT AND PLANTS. 



99 



white colour, as is the case with vegetables grown in a 
cellar, or protected by a covering for the sake of 
producing this very effect ; thus, celery is in this 
manner blanched, or etiolated. 

The part of the process of vegetable life for which 
light is especially essential, appears to be the functions 
of the leaves ; these are affected by this agent in a 
very remarkable manner. The moisture which plants 
imbibe is, by their vital energies, carried to their leaves ; 
and is there brought in contact with the atmosphere, 
which, besides other ingredients, contains, in general, 
a portion of carbonic acid. So long as light is iwesent, 
the leaf decomposes the carbonic acid, appropriates 
the carbon to the formation of its own proper juices, 
and returns the disengaged oxygen into the atmos- 
phere ; thus restoring the atmospheric air to a con- 
dition in which it is more fitted than it was before for 
the support of animal life. The plant thus prepares the 
support of life for other creatures at the same time that 
it absorbs its own. The greenness of those members 
which affect that colour, and the disengagement of 
oxygen, are the indications that its vital powers are in 
healthful action : as soon as we remove light from the 
plant, these indications cease : it has no longer power to 
imbibe carbon and disengage oxygen, but, on the con- 
trary, it gives back some of the carbon already obtained, 
and robs the atmosphere of oxygen for the purpose of 
re-converting this into carbonic acid. 

It cannot well be conceived that such effects of light 
on vegetables, as we have described, should occur, if 
that agent, of whatever nature it is, and those organs, 

h2 



100 



TEllEESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



had not been adapted to each other. But the subject 
is here introduced that the reader may the more readily 
receive the conviction of combining purpose which 
must arise, on finding that an agent, possessing these 
very peculiar chemical properties, is employed to 
produce also those effects of illumination, vision, &c., 
which form the most obvious portion of the properties 
of light. 

Chap. XIY.—Sound. 

Besides the function which air discharges as the 
great agent in the changes of meteorology and vege- 
tation, it has another office, also of great and extensive 
importance, as the vehicle of sound. 

I. The communication of sound through the air takes 
place by means of a process altogether different from 
anything of which we have yet spoken : namely, by the 
propagation of minute vibrations of the particles from 
one part of the fluid mass to another, without any local 
motion of the fluid itself. 

Perhaps we may most distinctly conceive the kind of 
effect here spoken of, by comparing it to the motion 
produced by the wind in a field of standing corn ; 
grassy waves travel visibly over the field, in the direction 
in which the wind blows, but this appearance of an 
object moving is delusive. The only real motion is 
that of the ears of grain, of which each goes and 
returns, as the stalk stoops and recovers itself. This 
motion affects successively a line of ears in the direction 
of the wind, and affects simultaneously all those ears of 



SOUND. 



101 



wliicli the elevation or depression forms one visible 
wave. The elevations and depressions are i)ropagated 
in a constant direction, while the parts with which the 
space is filled only vibrate to and fro. Of exactly such 
a nature is the propagation of sound through the air. 
The particles of air go and return through very minute 
spaces, and this vibrator}' motion runs through the 
atmosphere from the sounding body to the ear. Waves, 
not of elevation and depression, but of condensation 
and rarefaction, are transmitted ; and the sound thus 
becomes an object of sense to the organ. 

Another familiar instance of the propagation of 
vibrations we have in the circles on the surface of 
smooth water, which diverge from the point where it is 
touched by a small object, as a drop of rain. In the 
beginning of a shower for instance, when the drops 
come distinct, though frequent, we may see each drop 
giving rise to a ring, formed of two or three close 
concentric circles, which grow and spread, leaving the 
interior of the ckcles smooth, and gradually reaching 
parts of the surface more and more distant from theii* 
origin. In this instance, it is clearly not a portion of 
the water which flows onwards; but the disturbance, 
the rise and fall of the surface which makes the ring- 
formed waves, passes into wider and wider circles, and 
thus the undulation is transmitted from its starting- 
place, to points in all directions on the surface of the 
fluid. 

The diffusion of these rmg-formed undulations from 
their centre resembles the diffusion of a sound from 
the place where it is produced to the pomts where it is 



102 



TEEUESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



heard. Tlie disturbance, or vibration, b}^ which it is 
conveyed, travels at the same rate in all directions, and 
the waves which are propagated are hence of a circular 
form. They differ, however, from those on the surface 
of water ; for sound is communicated upwards and 
downwards, and in all intermediate directions, as well 
as horizontally; hence the waves of sound are spherical, 
the point where the sound is produced being the centre 
of the sphere. 

This diffusion of vibrations in spherical shells of 
successive condensation and rarefaction, will easily be 
seen to be different from any local motion of the 
air, as wind, and to be independent of that. The 
cn'cles on the surface of water will spread on a river 
which is flowing, provided it be smooth, as well as on 
a standing canal. 

Not only are such undulations proioagated almost 
undisturbed by any local motion of the fluid in which 
they take place, but also, many may be propagated m 
the same fluid at the same time, without disturbing 
each other. We may see this effect on water. When 
several drops fall near each other, the circles which 
they produce cross each other, without either of them 
being lost,' and the separate courses of the rings may 
still be traced. 

All these consequences, both in water, in air, and in 
any other fluid, can be very exactly investigated upon 
mechanical principles, and the greater part of the 
phenomena can thus be shown to result from the 
properties of the fluids. 

There are several remarkable circumstances in the 



SOUND. 



103 



way in which air answers its purpose as the vehicle of 
sound, of which we will now point out a few. 

II. The loudness of sound is such as is convenient 
for common purposes. The organs of speech can, in 
the present constitution of the air, produce, without 
fatigue, such a tone of voice as can be heard with 
distinctness and Avith comfort. That any great alte- 
ration in this element might be incommodious, we may 
judge from the difficulties to which persons are subject 
who are dull of hearing, and from the disagreeable 
effects of a voice much louder than usual, or so low as 
to be indistinct. Sounds produced by the human 
organs, with other kinds of air, are very different from 
those in our common air. If a man inhale a qupjitity 
of hydrogen gas, and then speak, his voice is scarcely 
audible. 

The loudness of sounds becomes smaller in propor- 
tion as they come from a greater distance. This enables 
us to judge of the distance of objects, in some degree 
at least, by the sounds which proceed from them. 
Moreover it is found that we can judge of the position 
of objects by the ear : and this judgment seems to be 
formed by comparing the loudness of the impression 
of the same sound on the two ears and two sides of 
the head.*' 

The loudness of sounds appears to depend on the 
extent of vibration of the particles of air, and this is 
determined by the vibrations of the sounding body. 

III. The pitch or the differences of acute and grave, 
in sounds, form another important property, and one 

* Mr. Gough in Manch. Mem. vol. 



104 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



which fits them for a great part of their purposes. 
By the association of different notes, we have all the 
results of melody and harmony in musical sound ; and 
of intonation and modulation of the voice, of accent, 
cadence, emphasis, expression, passion, in speech. The 
song of birds, which is one of their principal modes of 
communication, depends chiefly for its distinctions and 
its significance upon the combinations of acute and grave. 

These differences are produced by the different 
rapidity of vibration of the particles of air. The 
gravest sound has about thirty vibrations in a second, 
the most acute about one thousand. Between these 
limits each sound has a musical character, and from 
the different relations of the number of vibrations in 
a second arise all the differences of musical intervals, 
concords and discords. 

IV. The quality of sounds is another of their diffe- 
rences. This is the name given to the difference of 
notes of the same pitch, that is the same note as to 
acute and grave, when produced by different instru- 
ments. If a flute and a violin be in unison, the notes 
are still quite different sounds. It is this kind of 
difference which distinguishes the voice of one man 
from that of another : and it is manifestly therefore 
one of great consequence : since it connects the voice 
with the particular person, and is almost necessary in 
order that language may be a medium of intercourse 
between men. 

V. The a.rticulate character of sounds is for us one 
of the most important arrangements which exist in the 
world ; for it is by this that sounds become the inter- 



I 

SOUND. 105 

preters of tliought, will, and feeling, the means by 
which a person can convey his wants, his instructions, 
his promises, his kindness, to others ; by which one 
man can regulate the actions and influence the con- 
^dctions and judgments of another. It is in ^artue of 
the possibility of shaping air into words, that the 
imperceptible vibrations which a man produces ui the 
atmosphere, become some of his most important actions, 
the foundations of the highest moral and social relations, 
and the condition and instrument of all the advancement 
and improvement of which he is susceptible. 

It appears that the differences of articulate sound 
arise from the different form of the cavity through 
which the sound is made to proceed immediately 
after being produced. In the human voice the sound 
is produced in the larynx, and modified by the cavity 
of the mouth, and the various organs which surround 
this cavity. The laws by which articulate sounds are 
thus produced have not yet been fully developed, but 
appear to be m the progTess of being so. 

The properties of sounds which have been mentioned, 
differences of loudness, of pitch, of quality, and articu- 
lation, appear to be all requisite in order that sound 
shall answer its purposes in the economy of animal 
and of human hfe. And how was the aii* made capable 
of conveying these four differences, at the same time 
th9.t the organs were made capable of producing them ? 
Surely by a most refined and skilful adaptation, applied 
with a most comprehensive design. 

W. Again ; is it by chance that the air and the ear 
exist together ? Did the air produce the organisation 



106 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



of the ear ? or the ear, independent^ organised, anti- 
cipate the constitution of the atmosphere ? Or is not 
the only intelligible account of the matter, this, that 
one was made for the other : that there is a mutual 
adaptation produced by an Intelligence which was 
acquainted with the properties of both ; which adjusted 
them to each other as we find them adjusted, in order 
that birds might communicate by song, that men might 
speak and hear, and that language might play its extra- 
ordinary part in its operation upon men's thoughts, 
actions, institutions, and fortunes ? 

The vibrations of an elastic fluid like the air, and 
their properties, follow from the laws of motion ; and 
whether or not these laws of the motion of fluids might 
in reality have been other than they are, they appear 
to us inseparably connected with the existence of 
matter, and as much a thing of necessity as we can 
conceive anything in the universe to be. The propa^ 
gation of such vibrations, therefore, and their pro- 
perties, we may at present allow to be a necessary part 
of the constitution of the atmosphere. But what is it 
that makes these vibrations become sound ? How is 
it that they produce such an effect on our senses, and, 
through those, on our minds ? The vibrations of the 
air seem to be of themselves no more fitted to pro- 
duce sound than to loroduce smell. We know that 
such vibrations do not universally produce sound, 
but only between certain limits. When the vibra- 
tions are fewer than thirty in a second, ;tliey are per- 
ceived as separate throbs, and not as a continued 
sound ; and there is a certain limit of rapidity, beyond 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 



107 



whicji the vibrations become inaudible. This limit is 
different to different ears, and we are thus assured by 
one person's ear that there are vibrations, though to 
that of another they do not produce sound. How was 
the human ear adapted so that its perception of vibra- 
tions as sounds should fall within these limits ? — the 
very Hmits witliin which the vibrations fall, which it 
most concerns us to perceive ; those of the human 
voice for instance ? How nicely are the organs adjusted 
with regard to the most minute mechanical motions of 
the elements ! 

Chap, XV. — The Atmosphere. 

We 'have considered in succession a number of the 
properties and operations of the atmosphere, and have 
found them separately very curious. But an additional 
interest belongs to the subject when we consider them 
as combined. The atmosphere under this point of 
view must appear a contrivance of the most extraor- 
dinary kind. To answer any of its purposes, to carry 
on any of its processes, separately, requires peculiar 
arrangements and adjustments ; to answer all at once, 
purposes so varied, to combine without confusion so 
many different trains, implies powers and attributes 
which can hardly fail to excite in a liigh degree our 
admiration and reverence. 

If the atmosphere be considered as a vast machine, 
it is difficult to form any just conception of the pro- 
found sldll and comprehensiveness of design which it 
displays. It diffuses and tempers the heat of different 



108 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



climates ; for this purpose it performs a circulation 
occupying tlie whole range from the pole to the equator ; 
and while it is doing this, it executes many smaller 
cii'cuits between the sea and the land. At the same 
time, it is the means of forming clouds and rain, and 
for this purpose, a perpetual circulation of the watery 
part of the atmosphere goes on between its lower and 
upper regions. Besides this complication of circuits, 
it exercises a more irregular agency, in the occasional 
winds which blow from all quarters, tending perpetually 
to restore the equilibrium of heat and moisture. But 
this incessant and multiplied activity discharges only a 
part of the fmictions of the air. It is, moreover, the 
most important and universal material of the growth 
and sustenance of plants and animals ; and is for this 
purpose every where present and almost uniform in its 
quantity. AVith all its local motion, it has also the 
ofi&ce of a medium of communication between intel- 
ligent creatures, wdiich office it performs by another set 
of motions, entirely different both from the circulation 
and the occasional movements already mentioned ; 
these different kinds of motions not interfering mate- 
rially with each other : and this last purpose, so 
remote from the others in its nature, it answers in a 
manner so perfect and so easy, that we cannot 
imagine that the object could have been more com- 
pletely attained, if this had been the sole purpose 
for which the atmosphere had been created. With 
all these qualities, this extraordinary part of our 
terrestrial system is scarcely ever in the way : and 
when we have occasion to do so, we put forth our 



LIGHT. 



109 



hand and push it aside, without being aware of its 
being near us. 

We may add, that it is, in addition to all that we 
have hitherto noticed, a constant source of utility and 
beauty in its effects on light. Without air we should 
see nothing, except objects on which the sun's rays fell, 
directly or by reflection. It is the atmosphere which 
converts sunbeams into daylight, and fills the space in 
which we are with illumination. 

The contemplation of the atmosphere, as a machine 
which answers all these purposes, is well suited to 
impress upon us the strongest conviction of the most 
refined, far-seeing, and far-ruling contrivance. It seems 
impossible to suppose that these various properties 
were so bestowed and so combined, any otherwise than 
by a beneficent and intelligent Being, able and willing 
to diffuse organisation, life, health, and enjoyment 
through all parts of the visible world ; possessing a 
fertility of means which no multiplicity of objects could 
exhaust, and a discrimination of consequences which 
no complication of conditions could embarrass. 

Chap. XYL— Light 

Besides the hearing and sound there is another 
mode by which we become sensible of the impressions 
of external objects, namely, sight and light. This 
subject also offers some observations bearing on our 
present purpose. 

It has been declared by writers on Natural Theology, 
that the human eye exhibits such evidence of design 



110 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



and skill in its construction, tliat no one, who considers 
it attentively, can resist this impression : nor does 
this appear to be saying too much. It must, at the 
same time, be obvious that this construction of the eye 
could not answer its purposes, except the constitution 
of light corresponded to it. Light is an element of the 
most peculiar kind and properties, and such an element 
can hardly be conceived to have been placed in the 
universe without a regard to its operation and functions. 
As the eye is made for light, so light must have been 
made, at least among other ends, for the eye. 

I. We must expect to comprehend imperfectl}^ only 
the mechanism of the elements. Still, we have endea- 
voured to show that in some instances the arrange- 
ments by which their purposes are affected, are, to 
a certain extent, intelHgible. In order to explain, 
however, m what manner hght answers those ends 
which appear to us its principal ones, we must know 
somethiug of the nature of light. There have, hitherto, 
been, among men of science, two prevailing opinions 
upon this subject: some considering light as consisting 
in the emission of luminous particles ; others accounting 
for its phenomena by the propagation of vibrations 
through a highly subtle and elastic ether. The former 
opmion has, till lately, been most generally entertained 
in this country, having been the hypothesis on which 
Newton made his calculations ; the latter is the one to 
which most of those persons have been led, who, in 
recent times, have endeavoured to deduce general con- 
clusions from the newly discovered phenomena of light. 
Among these persons, the theory of undulations is 



LIGHT. 



Ill 



conceived to be established in nearly the same manner, 
and almost as certainly, as the doctrine of universal 
gravitation ; namely, by a series of laws inferred from 
numerous facts, which, proceeding from different sets 
of phenomena, are found to converge to one common 
view ; and by calculations foimded upon the theory, 
which, indicating new and untried facts, are found to 
agree exactly wdth experiment. 

We cannot here introduce a sketch of the j)rogress 
by which the phenomena have thus led to the acceptance 
of the theory of undulations. But this theory appears 
to have such claims to om' assent, that the views wliich 
we have to offer with regard to the design exercised in 
the adaptation of light to its purposes, will depend on 
the undulatory theory, so far as they depend on theory 
at all.* 

II. The impressions of sight, like those of hearing, 
differ in intensity and in kind. Brightness and Colour 
are the principal differences among visible things, as 
loudness and pitch are among sounds. But there is 
a singular distinction between these senses in one 
respect : every object and part of an object seen, is 
necessarily and inevitabl}^ referred to some position in 
the space before us ; and hence visi-ble things have 
place, magnitude, form, as well as light, shade, and 
colour. There is nothing analogous to this in the sense 
of hearing ; for though we can, in some approximate 

* The reader who is acquainted with the two theories of light, will 
perceive that though we have adopted the doctrine of the ether, the 
greater part of the arguments adduced would be equally forcible, if 
expressed in the language of the theory of emission. 



112 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



degree, guess the situation of the point from which a sound 
proceeds, this is a secondary process, distinguishable 
from the perception of the somid itself; whereas we 
cannot conceive visible things without form and place. 

The law according to which the sense of vision is 
thus affected, appears to be this. By the properties of 
light, the external scene produces, through the trans- 
parent parts of the eye, an image or picture exactly 
resembling the reality, upon the back part of the retina : 
and each point which we see is seen in the direction of 
a line passing from its image on the retina, through 
the centre of the pupil of the eye.* In this manner we 
perceive by the eye the situation of every point, at the 
same time that we perceive its existence ; and by 
combining the situations of many points, we have 
forms and outlines of every sort. 

That w^e should receive from the eye this notice of 
the position of the object as well as of its other visible 
qualities, appears to be absolutely necessary for our 
intercourse with the external world ; and the faculty of 
doing so is so intimate a part of our constitution that 
we cannot conceive ourselves divested of it. Yet in 
order to imagine ourselves destitute of this faculty, we 
have only to suppose that the eye should receive its 
impressions as the ear does, and should apprehend red 
and green, bright and dark, without placing them side 
by side ; as the ear takes in the different sounds which 
compose a concert, without attributiag them to different 
parts of space. 

* Or rather through the focal centre of the eye, which is always near 
the centre of the pupil. 



LIGHT. 



1]3 



The peculiar i)roperty tlius belonging to vision, of 
percei^Ting position, is so essential to us, that we may 
readily believe that some particular provision has been 
made for its existence. The remarkable mechanism of 
the eye (precisely resembling that of a camera ohscura,) 
by which it produces an image on the nervous web 
formmg its hinder part, seems to have this effect for 
its main object. And this mechanism necessarily 
supposes certain corresponding properties in light 
itself, by means of which such an effect becomes 
possible. 

The main properties of light which are concerned in 
this arrangement, are reflexion and refraction : re- 
flexion, by which light is reflected and scattered by all 
objects, and thus comes to the eye from all : and 
refraction, by which its course is bent, when it passes 
obliquely out of one transparent medium into another ; 
and by which, consequently, convex transparent sub- 
stances, such as the cornea and humours of the eye, 
possess the power of making the light converge to a 
focus or pomt ; an assemblage of such points forming 
the images on the retina, which we have mentioned. 

Reflexion and refraction are therefore the essential 
and indispensable properties of Hght ; and so far as we 
can understand, it appears that it was necessary that 
light should possess such properties, in order that it 
might form a medium of communication between man 
and the external world. We may consider its power of 
passing through transparent media (as air) to be given 
in order that it may enligliten the earth ; its affection 
of reflexion, for the purpose of making colours visible ; 



114 



TEEUESTfilAL ADAPTATIONS. 



and its refraction to be bestowed, tlia,t it may enable us 
to discriminate figure and position, by means of the 
lenses of the eye. 

In this manner light may be considered as consti- 
tuted with a peculiar reference to the eyes of animals, 
and its leading properties may be looked upon as 
contrivances or adaptations to fit it for its visual office. 
And in such a point of view the perfection of the 
contrivance or adaptation must be allowed to be very 
remarkable. 

III. But besides the properties of reflexion and re- 
fraction, the most obvious laws of light, an extraordinary 
variety of phenomena have lately been discovered, 
regulated by other laws of the most curious Idnd, 
uniting great complexity with great symmetry. We 
refer to the phenomena of diffraction, polarisation, and 
periodical colours, produced by crystals and by thui 
plates. We have, in these facts, a vast mass of pro- 
perties and laws, offering a subject of stud}^ which 
has been pursued with eminent skill and intelligence. 
But these properties and laws, so far as has yet been 
discovered, exert no agency whatever, and have no 
purpose, in the general economy of nature. Beams of 
light polarised in contrary directions exhibit the most 
rema^rkable differences when they pass through certain 
crystals, but manifest no discoverable difference in 
their immediate impression on the e3"e. We have, 
therefore, here a number of laws of light, v/hich we 
cannot perceive to be established with any design which 
has a reference to the other parts of the universe. 

Undoubtedly it is exceedingly possible that these 



LIGHT. 



115 



differences of light may operate in some quarter, and 
in some ^^'s.J, which, we cannot detect ; and that these 
laws may have purposes and may answer ends of which 
we have no suspicion. All the analogy of nature 
teaches us a lesson of humility, with regard to the 
rehance we are to place on our discernment and 
judgment as to such matters. But with our present 
knowledge we may observe, that this curious system 
of phenomena appears to he a collateral result of the 
mechanism by which the effects of Hght are produced ; 
and therefore a necessary consequence of the existence 
of that element of wliich the offices are so numerous 
and so beneficent. 

The new properties of light, and the speculations 
founded upon them, have led many persons to the 
behef of the undulatory theory ; which, as we have said, 
is considered by some philosophers as demonstrated. 
If we adopt this theory, we consider the luminiferous 
ether to have no local motion : and to produce refrac- 
tion and reflexion by the operation of its elasticity 
alone. We must necessarily suppose the tenuity of the 
ether to be extreme; and if we moreover suppose its 
tension to be Yerj great, which the vast velocity of 
light requires us to suppose, the vibrations by which 
light is propagated will be transverse vibrations, that is, 
the motion to and fro will be athwart the line along 
which the undulation travels. The reader may perhaps 
aid his conception of this motion, by attending to the 
undulation of a long pendant streammg in the wind 
from the mast-head of a ship : he will see that while the 
undulation runs visibly along the strip of cloth, from 

I 2 



116 



TEREESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



the mast-head to the loose end, every part of the strip 
in succession moves to and fro across this line. 

From this transverse character in the luminiferons 
vibrations, all the laws of polarisation necessarily 
follow: and the properties of transverse vibrations, 
combined with the properties of vibrations in general, 
give rise to all the curious and numerous phenomena 
of colours of which we have spoken. If the vibrations 
be transverse, they may be resolved into two different 
planes ; this is polarisation : if they fall on a medium 
which has different elasticity in different directions, 
they will be divided into two sets of vibrations ; this is 
double refraction : and so on. Some of the new pro- 
perties, however, as the fringes of shadows and the 
colours of thin plates, follow from the undulatory 
theory, whether the vibrations be transverse or not. 

It would' appear, therefore, that the propagation of 
light by means of a subtle medium, leads necessarily 
to the extraordmary collection of properties which have 
recently been discovered; and, at any rate, its pro- 
pagation by the transverse vibrations of such a medium 
does lead inevitably to these results. 

Leaving it therefore to future times to point out the 
other reasons (or uses if they exist) of these newly 
discovered properties of light, in their bearing on other 
parts of the world , we may venture to say, that if light 
was to be propagated through transparent media by the 
undulations of a subtle fluid, these properties must 
result, as necessarily as the rainbow results from the 
unequal refrangibility of different colours. This phe- 
nomenon and those, appear alike to be the collateral 



LIGHT. 



117 



consequences of the laws impressed on liglit witli a 
view to its principal offices. 

Thus the exquisitely beautiful and symmetrical 
phenomena and laws of polarisation, and of cr^^stalline 
and other effects, may be looked upon as indications of 
the delicacy and subtlety of the mechanism by which 
man, through his visual organs, is put in communi- 
cation with the external world; is made acquainted 
with the forms and qualities of objects in the most 
remote regions of space; and is enabled, in some 
measure, to determine his position and relation in a 
universe in which he is but an atom. 

IV. If we suppose it clearly established that light is 
j)roduced by tlie vibrations of an ether, we find con- 
siderations ofi'er themselves, similar to those which 
occurred in the case of sound. The vibrations of this 
ether affect our organs with the sense of light and 
colour. Wh}'', or how do they do this ? It is only 
within certain limits that the effect is produced, and 
these limits are comparatively narrower here than in 
the case of sound. The whole scale of colour, from 
violet to crimson, lies between vibrations which are 
458 million millions, and 727 million millions in a 
second ; a proportion much smaller than the corres- 
ponding ratio for perceptible sounds. Why should 
such vibrations produce perception in the eye, and no 
others ? There must be here some peculiar adaptation 
of the sensitive powers to these wonderfully minute and 
condensed mechanical motions. What happens when 
the vibrations are slower than the red, or quicker than 
the blue ? They do not produce vision : do they 



118 



TERRESmiAL ADAPTATIONS. 



produce any effect ? Have tliey anytliing to do with 
heat or with electricity ? We cannot tell. The ether 
must be as susceptible of these vibrations, as of those 
wliich produce vision. But the mechanism of the eye 
is adjusted to this latter kind only ; and this precise 
kind, (whether alone or mixed with others,) joroceeds 
from the sun and from other luminaries, and thus 
communicates to us the state of the visible universe. 
The mere material elements then are full of properties 
which we can understand no othermse, than as the 
results of a refined contrivance. 

Chap. XYIl.—Tke Ether. 

In what has just been said, we have spoken of light, 
only with respect to its power of illuminating objects, 
and conve}dng the impression of them to the eye. It 
possesses, however, beyond all doubt, many other 
qualities. Light is intimately connected with heat, as 
we see in the case of the sun and of flame ; yet it is 
clear that light and heat are not identical. Light is 
evidently connected too with electricity and galvanism; 
and perhaps through these, vdth magnetism : it is, as 
has already been mentioned, indispensably necessary 
to the healthy discharge of the functions of vegetable 
life ; without it plants cannot duly exercise then" vital 
powers : it manifests also chemical action in various 
ways. 

The luminiferous ether then, if we so call the medium 
in which light is propagated, must possess many other 
properties besides those mechanical ones on which the 



THE ETHER. 



119 



illuminating power depends. It must not be merely 
hke a fluid poured into tlie vacant spaces and interstices 
of the material Avorld, and exercising no action on 
objects ; it must affect the physical, chemical, and vital 
powers of what it touches. It must be a great and 
active agent m the work of the universe, as well as an 
active reporter of what is done by other agents. It 
must possess a number of comj^lex and refined con- 
trivances and adjustments which we cannot analyse, 
bearing upon plants and chemical compounds, and the 
imponderable agents ; as well as those laws which we 
conceive that we have analysed, by which it is the 
vehicle of illumination and vision. 

We have had occasion to point out how complex is 
the machiner}^ of the atmosphere, and how varied its 
objects ; since, besides being the means of commu- 
nication as the medium of sound, it has known laws, 
which connect it with heat and moisture ; and other 
laws, in virtue of which it is decomposed by vegetables. 
It appears, in lil^e manner, that the ether is not only 
the vehicle of light, . but has also laws, at present 
unknown, which connect it with heat, electricity, and 
other agencies ; and other laws through which it is 
necessary to vegetables, enabling them to decompose 
air. All analogy leads us to suppose that if we knew 
as much of the constitution of the luminiferous ether 
as we know of the constitution of the atmosphere, we 
should find it a machine as complex and artificial, as 
skilfully and admirably constructed. 

We know at present very little indeed of the con- 
struction of this machine. Its existence is, perhaps, 



120 



TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



satisfactorily made out ; in order tliat we may not 
interrupt tlie jDrogress of our argument, we shall refer 
to other works for the reasonings which appear to lead 
to this conclusion. But whether heat, electricitj^, 
galvanism, magnetism, be fluids ; or effects or modi- 
fications of fluids ; and whether such fluids or ethers be 
the same with the luminiferous ether, or with each 
other ; are questions of which all or most appear to be 
at present undecided, and it would be presumptuous 
and premature here to take one side or the other. 

The mere fact, however, that there is such an ether, 
and that it has properties related to other agents, in 
the way we have suggested, is w^ell calculated to extend 
our views of the structure of the universe, and of the 
resources, if we may so speak, of the ]iower by which 
it is arranged. The solid and fluid matter of the earth 
is the most obvious to our senses ; over this, and in its 
cavities, is poured an invisible fluid, the air, by which 
warmth and life are diffused and fostered, and by which 
men communicate with men : over and through this 
again, and reaching, so far as we Imow, to the utmost 
bounds of the universe, is spread another most subtle 
and attenuated fluid, which, by the play of another set 
of agents, aids the energies of nature, and which, 
filling all parts of space, is a means of communication 
with other planets and other systems. 

There is nothing in all this like any material 
necessity, compelling the world to be as it is and no 
otherwise. How should the properties of these three 
great classes of agents, visible objects, aii', and light, 
so harmonise and assist each other, that order and life 



EECAPITUIuiTION. 



121 



should be tlie result ? Without all the three, and all 
the three constituted in their present manner, and 
subject to their present laws, living things could not 
exist. If the earth had no atmosphere, or if the world 
had no ether, all must be inert and dead. Who con- 
structed these three extraordinarily complex pieces of 
machinery, the earth with its productions, the atmos- 
phere, and the ether ? Who fitted them uito each 
other in manj^ parts, and thus made it possible for them 
to work together ? We conceive there can be but one 
answer ; a most wise and good God. 

Chap. XVIII. — Recapitulation. 

I. It has been shown in the preceding chapters that 
a great number of quantities and laws appear to have 
been selected in the construction of the universe ; and 
that by the adjustment to each other of the magnitudes 
and laws thus selected, the constitution of the world is 
what we find it, and is fitted for the support of vege- 
tables and animals, in a manner in which it could not 
have been, if the properties and quantities of the 
elements had been different from what they are. We 
shall here recapitulate the principal of the laws and mag- 
nitudes to which this conclusion has been shown to apply. 

1. The Length of the Year, which depends on the 
force of the attraction of the sun, and its distance from 
the earth. 

2. The Length of the Day. 

3. The Mass of the Earth, which depends on its 
magnitude and density. 



122 



TEERESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



4. The Magnitude of tlie Ocean. 

5. The Magnitude of the Atmosphere. 

6. The Law and Kate of the Conducting Power of 
the Earth. 

7. The Law and Eate of the Eadiating Power of the 
Earth. 

8. The Law and Eate of the Expansion of Water 
by Heat. 

9. The Law and Eate of the Expansion of Water 
by cold, below 40 degrees. 

10. The Law and Quantity of the Expansion of 
Water in Freezing. 

11. The Quantity of Latent Heat absorbed in 
Thawing. 

12. The Quantity of Latent Heat absorbed in 
Evaporation. 

13. The Law and Eate of Evaporation with regard 
to Heat. 

14. The Law and Eate of the Expansion of Air by 
Heat. 

15. The Quantity of Heat absorbed in the Expan- 
sion of Air. 

16. The Law and Eate of the Passage of Aqueous 
Vapour through Air. 

17. The Laws of Electricity; its relations to Air 
and Moisture. 

18. The Fluidity, Density, and Elasticity of the Air, 
by means of which its vibrations produce Sound. 

19. The Fluidity, Density, and Elasticity of the 
Ether, by means of which its vibrations produce light. 

11. These are the data, the elements, as astronomers 



RECAPITULATION. 



123 



call the quantities which determine a planet's orbit, on 
which the mere inorganic part of the universe is 
constructed. To these, the constitution of the organic 
world is adapted in innumerable points, by laws of 
which we can trace the results, though we cannot 
analyse their machinery. Thus, the vital functions of 
vegetables have periods which correspond to the length 
of the year, and of the day ; their vital powers have 
forces which correspond to the force of gravity ; the 
sentient faculties of man are such that the vibrations 
of air, (mthm certain Hmits,) are perceived as sound, 
those of ether, as light. And while we are enumerating 
these correspondencies, we perceive that there are 
thousands of others, and that we can only select a very 
small number of those where the relation happens to be 
most clearly made out or most easily explamed. 

Now, in the list of the mathematical demerits of the 
universe which has just been given, why have we such 
laws and such quantities as there occur, and no other ? 
For the most part, the data there enumerated are 
independent of each other, and might be altered sepa- 
rately, so far as the mechanical conditions of the case 
are concerned. Some of these data probably depend 
on each other : thus the latent heat of aqueous vapour 
is perhaps connected with the difference of the rate of 
expansion of water and of steam : but all natural 
philosophers will, probably, agree, that there must be, 
in this list, a great number of things entirely without 
any mutual dependence, as the year and the day, the 
expansion of aii' and the expansion of steam. There 
are, therefore, it appears, a number of things which, in 



124 TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 

the structure of the workl, might have been otherwise, 
and which are what they are in consequence of choice 
or of chance. We have already seen, in many of the 
cases separately, how unlike chance every thing looks : 
— that substances, which might have existed any how, 
so far as they themselves are concerned, exist exactly 
in such a manner and measure as they should, to secure 
the welfare of other things : — that the laws are tempered 
and fitted together in the only way in vfhich the world 
could have gone on, according to all that we can 
conceive of it. This must, therefore, be the work of 
choice ; and if so, it cannot be doubted, of a most wise 
and benevolent Chooser. 

III. The appearance of choice is still further illus- 
trated by the variety as well as the number of the laws 
selected. The laws are unlike one another. Steam 
certainly expands at a very different rate from air by 
the application of heat, probably according to a different 
laic : water expands in freezing, but mercury contracts : 
heat travels in a manner quite different through solids 
and fluids. Every separate substance has its own 
density, gravity, cohesion, elasticity, its relations to 
heat, to electricity, to magnetism ; besides all its 
chemical afi&nities, which form an endless throng of 
laws, connecting every one substance in creation with 
every other, and different for each pair anyhow taken. 
Nothing can look less like a world formed of atoms 
operating upon each other according to some universal 
and mevitable laws, than this does : if such a system 
of things be conceivable, it cannot be our system. We 
have, it may be, fifty simple substances in the world ; 



TvECAPITULATION. 



125 



eacli of which is invested with properties, both of 
chemical and mechanical action, altogether different 
from those of any other substance. Every portion, 
however minute, of any of these, possesses all the 
properties of the substance. Of each of these sub- 
stances there is a certain unalterable quantity in the 
universe ; when combined, theii' compounds exhibit 
new chemical affinities, new mechanical laws. Who 
gave these different laws to the different substances ? 
wiio proportioned the quantity of each ? But suppose 
this done. Suppose these substances in existence ; in 
contact; in due proportion to each other. Is this a 
world, or at least our world ? No more than the mine 
and the forest are the ship of war or the factory. These 
elements, with their constitution perfect, and their 
proportion suitable, are still a mere chaos. They must 
be put in their places. The}^ must not be where their 
own properties would place them. They must be made 
to assume a particular arrangement, or we can have no 
regular and permanent course of nature. This arrange- 
ment must again have additional peculiarities, or we 
can have no organic portion of the world. The millions 
of millions of particles which the world contains, must 
be finished up in as complete a manner, and fitted into 
their places with as much nicety, as the most delicate 
wheel or spring in a piece of human machinery. What 
are the habits of thought to which it can appear 
possible that this could take place without design, 
intention, intelligence, purpose, knowledge ? 

In what has just been said, we have spoken only of 
the constitution of the inorganic part of the universe. 



126 



COSMICAL AERANGEMENTS. 



The mechanism, if we may so call it, of vegetable and 
animal life, is so far beyond our comprehension, that 
though some of the same observations might be applied 
to it, we do not dvv^ell upon the subject. We know that 
in these processes also, the mechanical and chemical 
properties of matter are necessary, but we know too 
that these alone will not account for the phenomena 
of life. There is something more than these. The 
lowest stage of vitality and irritability appears to carry 
us beyond mechanism, beyond chemical pofiinity. All 
that has been said with regard to the exactness of the 
adjustments, the combination of various means, the 
tendency to continuance, to preservation, is applicable 
with additional force to the organic creation, so far 
as we can perceive the means employed. These, how- 
ever, belong to a different province of the subject, and 
must be left to other hands. 



BOOK II. 

COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

When we turn our attention to the larger portions 
of the universe, the sun, the planets, and the earth as 
one of them, the moon and other, satelhtes, the fixed 
stars, and other heavenly bodies ; — the views which we 
obtain concerning their mutual relations, arrangement 
and movements, are called, as we have ah'eady stated, 
cosmical views. These views will, we conceive, afford 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



127 



us indications of the wisdom and care of tiie Power 
by which the objects which we thus consider, were 
created and are preserved : and we shall now proceed 
to pomt out some circumstances in which these 
attributes may be traced. 

It has been observed by writers on Natural Theolog}^, 
that the arguments for the being and perfections of the 
Creator, drawn from cosmical considerations, labour 
under some disadvantages when compared with the 
arguments founded on those provisions and adapta- 
tions which more immediately affect the well being of 
organised creatures. The structure of the solar system 
has far less analogy with such machinery as we can 
construct and comprehend, than we find in the structure 
of the bodies of animals, or even in the causes of the 
weather. Moreover, we do not see the immediate bearing 
of cosmical arrangements on that end which we most 
readily acknowledge to be useful and desirable, the sup- 
port and comfort of sentient natures : so that, from both 
causes, the impression of benevolent design in this case 
is less strilving and pointed than that which results 
from the examination of some other parts of nature. 

But in considering the universe, according to the 
view we have taken, as a collection of laivs, astronomy, 
the science which teaches us the laws of the motions 
of the heavenly bodies, possesses some advantages, 
among the subjects from which we may seek to learn 
the character of the government of the world. For 
our knowledge of the laws of the motions of the planets 
and satellites is far more complete and exact, far more 
thorough and satisfactory, than the Imowledge which 



123 



COSMICAL AREAXGEMENTS. 



we possess in any other department of Natural Philo- 
sopliy. Our acquaintance with the laws of the solar 
system is such, that we can calculate the precise place 
and motion of most of its parts at any period, past or 
future, however remote ; and we can refer the changes 
which take place in these circumstances to their proxi- 
mate cause, the attraction of one mass of matter to 
another, acting between all the parts of the universe. 

If, therefore, we trace indications of the Divine care, 
either in the form of the laws which prevail among the 
heavenly bodies, or in the arbitrary quantities which 
such laws involve ; (according to the distinction 
exj)lained in tlie former part of this work ;) we may 
expect that our examples of such care, though they may 
be less numerous and obvious, will be more precise 
than they can be in other subjects, where the laws of 
facts are imperfectly known, and their causes entirely 
hid. We trust that this will be found to be the case with 
regard to some of the examples which we shall adduce. 

Chap. I. — TJie Structure of the Solar System. 

Ix the cosmical considerations which we have to 
offer, we shall suppose the general truths concerning 
the structure of the solar system and of the imiverse, 
which have been established by astronomers and 
mathematicians, to be known to the reader. It is not 
necessary to go into much detail on this subject. The 
five planets known to the ancients, Mercury, Venus, 
Mars, Jupiter, Satm^n, revolve round the sun, at dif- 
ferent distances, in orbits nearly circular, and nearly 



SOLAR SYSTmi. 



129 



in one plane. Between Yenus and Mars, our Eartli, 
herself one of the planets, revolves in lilie manner. 
Beyond Saturn, Uranus has been discovered describing 
an orbit of the same Idnd ; and between Mars and 
Jupiter, four smaller bodies perform their revolutions 
in orbits somewhat less regular than the rest. These 
planets are all nearl}'- globular, and all revolve upon 
their axes. Some of them are accompanied by satel- 
Htes, or attendant bodies wliich revolve about them ; 
and these bodies also have their orbits nearly circular, 
and nearly in the same plane as the others. Saturn's 
ring is a solitary example, so far as we know, of such 
an appendage to a planet. 

These circular motions of the planets round the 
sun, and of the satellites round their primary planets, 
are all kept going by the attraction of the respective 
central bodies, which restrains the corresponding 
revolving bodies from flying off. It is perhaps not 
ver}^ easy to make this operation clear to common 
apprehension. We cannot illustrate it by a comparison 
with any machine of human contrivance and fabrica- 
tion : in such machines everything goes on by contact 
and impulse : pressure, and force of all kinds, is 
exercised and transferred from one x^art to another, b}^ 
means of a material connection : by rods, ropes, fluids, 
gases. In the machinery of the universe, there is, so 
far as we know, no material connexion between the 
parts which act on each other. In the solar system no 
part touches or drives another : all the bodies affect 
each other at a distance, as the magnet affects the 
needle. The production and regulation of such effects, 

K 



130 



COSMIC AL ARRANGEMENTS. 



if attempted by onr meclianicians, would reqtdre great 
skill and nicety of adjustment; but our artists have 
not executed any examples of this sort of macliinery, 
by reference to wliich we can illustrate the arrange- 
ments of the solar system. 

Perhaps the following comparison may serve to 
explain the kind of adjustments of which we shall 
have to speak. If there be a wide shallow round basin 
of smooth marble, and if we take a smooth ball, as a 
billiard ball or a marble pellet, and throw it along the 
surface of the mside of the basin, the bail will gene- 
rally make many revolutions round the inside of the 
bowl, gTadually tending to the bottom in its motion. 
The gradual diminution of the motion, and consequent 
tendency of the ball to the bottom of the bowl, arises 
from the friction ; and in order to make the motion 
correspond to that wdiich takes place through the 
action of a central force, we must suppose this friction 
to be got rid of. In that case, the ball, once set 
a-going, would run round the basin for ever, describing 
either a circle, or various kinds of ovals, according to 
the way in which it was originally thrown ; whether 
quickly or slowl}', and whether more or less obliquely 
along the surface. 

Such a motion would be capable of the same kind of 
variety, and the same sort of adjustments, as the motion 
of a body revolving about a larger one by means of a 
central force. Perhaps the reader may understand 
what kind of adjustments these are, by supposing such 
a bowl and ball to be used for a game of skill. If the 
object of the players be to throw the pellet along the 



CIRCULAR ORBITS. 



131 



surface of the basin, so that after describing its curved 
path it shaU pass through a small hole in a barrier at 
some distance from the starting point, it Avill easily be 
understood that some nicety in the regulation of the 
force and dh-ection with which the ball is thrown will 
be necessary for success. In order to obtain a better 
image of the solar system, Ave must suppose the basin 
to be very large and the pellet very small. And it will 
easily be understood that as many pellets as there are 
planets might run round the bowl at the same time 
with different velocities. Such a contrivance might 
form a jplanetarium in which the mimic planets would 
be regulated by the laws of motion as the real planets 
are ; instead of being carried by wires and wheels, as 
is done in such machines of the common construction : 
and in this planetarium the tendency of the planets to 
the sun is replaced by the tendency of the representative 
pellets to run down the slope of the bowl. We shall 
refer again to this basin, thus representing the solar 
system with its loose planetary balls. 

Chap. II, — The Circular OrUts oftJie Planets round the Sun. 

The orbit which the earth describes round the sun 
is very nearly a circle : the sun is about one-thirtieth 
nearer to us in winter than in summer. This nearly 
circular form of the orbit, on a little consideration, mil 
appear to be a remarkable circumstance. 

Supposmg the attraction of a planet towards the sun 
to exist, if the planet were put in motion in any part of 
the solar system, it would describe about the sun an 

K 2 



132 



COSMICAL AEEANGEMENTS. 



orbit of some hind ; it might be a long oval, or a shorter 
oval, or an exact circle. But if we suppose the result 
left to chance, the chances are infinitely against the 
last-mentioned case. There is but one circle ; there 
are an infinite number of ovals. Any original impulse 
would give some oval, but only one particular impulse, 
determinate in velocity and direction, will give a circle. 
If we suppose the planet to be originally projected, it 
must be projected perpendicularly to its distance from 
the sun, and with a certain precise velocity, in order 
that the motion may be circular. 

In the basin to which we have compared the solar 
system, the adjustment requisite to produce circular 
motion would require us to project our pellet so that 
after running half round the surface it should touch a 
point exactly at an equal distance from the centre, on 
the other side, passing neither too high nor too low. 
And the pellet, it may be observed, should be in size 
only one ten-thousandth part of the distance from the 
centre, to make the dimensions correspond with the 
case of the earth's orbit. If the mark were set up 
and hit we should hardly attribute the result to 
chance. 

The earth's orbit, however, is not exactly a circle. 
The mark is not precisely a single point, but is a space 
of the breadth of one-tliirtieth of the distance from the 
centre. Still this is much too near an agreement with 
the circle to be considered as the work of chance. The 
chances were great against the ball passing so nearly 
at the same distance, for there were twenty-nine equal 
spaces through which it might have gone, between the 



CIRCULAE CEBITS. 



133 



mark and the centre, and an indefinite number outside 
the mark. 

But it is not the earth's orbit alone which is nearly 
a circle : the rest of the planets also approach very 
nearly to that form : Venus more nearly still than the 
earth : Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus have a difference 
of about one-tenth, between their greatest and least 
distances from the sun : Mars has his extreme distances 
in the proportion of five to six nearly ; and Mercmy in 
the proportion of two to three. The last-mentioned 
case is a considerable deviation, and two of the small 
planets which lie between Mars and Jupiter, namely 
Juno and Pallas, exhibit an inequality somewhat greater 
still ; but the smallness of these bodies, and other 
circumstances, make it probable that there may be 
particular causes for the exception in their case. The 
orbits of the satellites of the earth, of Jupiter, and of 
Saturn, are also nearly circular. 

Taldng the solar system altogether, the regularity of 
its structure is very remarkable. The diagram which 
represents the orbits of the planets might have consisted 
of a number of ovals, narrow and wide in all degrees, 
intersecting and interfering with each other in all 
directions. The diagram does consist, as all who 
have opened a book of astronomy know, of a set of 
figures which appear at first sight concentric circles, 
and which are very nearly so ; nowhere approaching 
to any crossing or interfering, except in the case of the 
small planets, already noticed as irregular. No one, 
looking at this common diagram, can believe that the 
orbits were made to be so nearly circles by chance ; 



134 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



any more than lie can believe that a target, such as 
archers are accustomed to shoot at, was painted in 
concentric circles by the accidental dashes of a brush 
in the hands of a blind man. 

The regularity, then, of the solar system excludes 
the notion of accident in the arrangement of the orbits 
of the planets. There must have been an express 
adjustment to produce this circular character of the 
orbits. The velocity and direction of the motion of 
each planet must have been subject to some original 
regulation; or, as it is often expressed, the projectile 
force must have been accommodated to the centripetal 
force. This once done, the motion of each planet, 
taken by itself, would go on for ever still retaining its 
circular character, by the laws of motion. 

If some original cause adjusted the orbits of the 
planets to their circular form and regular arrangement, 
we can hardly avoid including in our conception of this 
cause, the intention and will of a Creating Power. We 
shall consider this argument more fully in a succeeding 
chapter ; only observing here, that the presidmg Intel- 
ligence which has selected and combined the properties 
of the organic creation, so that they correspond so 
remarkably with the arbitrary quantities of the system 
of the universe, may readily be conceived also to have 
selected the arbitrary velocity and direction of each . 
planet's motion, so that the adjustment should produce 
a close approximation to a circular motion. 

We have argued here only from the regularity of the 
solar S3''stem ; from the selection of the single symme- 
trical case and the rejection of all the unsymmetrical 

J 



CmCULAE DEBITS. 



135 



cases. But this subject may be considered in another 
point of view. The system thus selected is not only 
regular and symmetrical, but also it is, so far as we can 
judge, the only one wdiicli would answer the purpose of 
the earth, perhaps of the other planets, as the seat of 
animal and vegetable life. If the earth's orbit w^ere 
more excentric, as it is called, if for instance the 
gxeatest and least distances were as three to one, the 
inequality of heat at two seasons of the year would be 
destructive to the existing species of hving creatures. 
A circular, or nearly circular, orbit, is the only case in 
w^hich vv^e can have a com'se of seasons such as we have 
at present, the only case in which the climates of the 
northern and southern hemispheres are nearly the 
same ; and what is more clearly important, the only 
case in which the character of the seasons would not 
vary from centmy to centmy. For if the excentricity 
of the earth's orbit were considerable, the difference of 
heat at different seasons, arising from the different 
distances of the sun, w^ould be combined with the 
difference, now the only considerable one, w^hich 
depends on the position of the earth's axis. And as 
by the motion of the ijerilielion, or place of the nearest 
distance of the earth to the sun, this nearest distance 
would fall in different ages at different parts of the 
year, the whole distribution of heat through the year 
would thus be gradually subverted. The summer and 
wmter of the tropical year, as we have it now, being 
combined with the heat and cold of the anomalistic 
year, a period of different length, the difference of the 
two seasons might sometimes be neutralised altogether. 



136 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



and at other times exaggerated by the accmmilation of 
the inequalities, so as to be intolerable. 

The circular form of the orbit therefore, which, from 
its unique character, appears to be chosen with some 
design, from its effects on the seasons, appears to be 
chosen with this design, so apparent in other parts of 
creation, of securing the welfare of organic life, by a 
steadfast and regular order of the solar influence upon 
the planet. 

Chap. III. — The Stcibility of the Solar System. 

There is a consequence resulting from the actual 
structure of the solar system, which has been brought 
to light by the investigations of mathematicians con- 
cerning the cause and laws of its motions, and which 
has an important bearing on our argument. It appears 
that the arrangement which at present obtains is 
precisely that which is necessary to secure the stability 
of the system. This point we must endeavour to 
explain. 

If each planet were to revolve round the sun without 
being affected by the other planets, there would be a 
certain degree of regularity in its motion ; and this 
regularity would continue for ever. But it appears, 
by the discovery of the law of universal gravitation, 
that the planets do not execute their movements in 
this insulated and independent manner. Each of 
them is acted on by the attraction of all the rest. The 
earth is constantly drawn by Venus, by Mars, by 
Jupiter, bodies of various magnitudes, perpetually 



STABILITY OF THE SYSTEM. 



137 



changing tlieir distances and positions with regard to 
the earth ; the earth in return is perpetually drawing 
these bodies. What, in the course of time, will be the 
result of this mutual attraction ? 

All the planets are very small compared with the 
sun, and therefore the derangement which they pro- 
duce in the motion of one of their number will be very 
small in the course of one revolution. But this gives 
us no security that the derangement may not become 
very large in the course of many revolutions. The 
cause acts perpetually, and it has the whole extent of 
time to work in. Is it not then easily conceivable that 
in the lapse of ages the derangements of the motions 
of the planets may accumulate, the orbits may change 
their form, their mutual distances may be much in- 
creased or much diminished ? Is it not possible that 
these changes may go on without limit, and end in the 
complete subversion and ruin of the system ? 

If, for instance, the result of this mutual gravitation 
should be to increase considerably the excentricity 
of the earth's orbit, that is to make it a longer and 
longer oval ; or to make the moon approach perpetually 
nearer and nearer the earth every revolution ; it is easy 
to see that in the one . case our year would change its 
character, as we have noticed in the last section ; in 
the other, our satellite might finally fall to the earth, 
which must of course bring about a dreadful catas- 
trophe. If the positions of the planetary orbits, with 
respect to that of the earth, were to change much, the 
planets might sometimes come very near us, and 
thus exaggerate the effects of their attraction beyond 



138 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



calculable limits. Under such cii'cumstances, we might 
have " years of unequal length, and seasons of capri- 
cious temperature, planets and moons of portentous 
size and aspect, glaring and disappearing at uncertain 
intervals ; " tides lilve deluges, sweeping over whole 
continents ; and, perhaps, the collision of two of 
the planets, and the consequent destruction of all 
organisation on both of them. 

Nor is it, on a common examination of the history 
of the solar system, at all clear that there is no ten- 
dency to indefinite derangement. The fact really is, 
that changes are taking place in the motions of the 
heavenly bodies, which have gone on progressively from 
the first dawn of science. The excentricity of the 
earth's orbit has been diminishing from the earliest 
observations to our times. The moon has been moving 
quicker and quicker from the time of the first recorded 
echpses, and is now in advance, b}'' about four times 
her own breadth, of what her place would have been if it 
had not been affected by this acceleration. The obli- 
quity of the echptic also is in a state of diminution, 
and is now about two-fifths of a degree less than it 
was in the time of Aristotle. Will these changes go on 
without limit or reaction ? If so, we tend by natural 
causes to a termination of the present system of 
things : if not, by what adjustment or combination 
are we secured from such a tendency ? Is the system 
stable, and if so, what is the condition on which stability 
depends ? 

To answer these questions is far from easy. The 
mechanical problem which they involve is no less than 



STABILITY OP THE SYSTEM. 



139 



this ; — Having given the directions and velocities with 
which about thirty bodies are mo\dng at one time, to 
find theii' places and motions after any number of ages; 
each of the bodies, all the while, attracting all the others, 
and being attracted by them all. 

It may readily be imagined that this is a problem of 
extreme complexity, when it is considered that every 
new configuration or arrangement of the bodies will 
give rise to a new amount of action on each ; and every 
new action to a new configuration. Accordingly, the 
mathematical investigation of such questions as the 
above was too difficult to be attempted in the earlier 
periods of the progress of Physical Astronomy. Newton 
did not undertake to demonstrate either the stability 
or the instability of the system. The decision of this 
point required a greater number of preparatory steps 
and simplifications, and such progress in the invention 
and improvement of mathematical methods, as occupied 
the best mathematicians of Europe for the greater 
part of last century. But, towards the end of that 
time, it was shown by Lagrange and Laplace that the 
arrangements of the solar system are stable : that in 
the long run the orbits and motions remain unchanged; 
and that the changes in the orbits, which take place in 
shorter periods, never transgress certain very moderate 
limits. Each orbit midergoes deviations on this side 
and on that of its average state ; but these deviations 
are never very great, and it finally recovers from them, 
so that the average is preserved. The planets produce 
perpetual pertm^bations in each other's motions, but 
these perturbations are not indefinitely progressive, 



140 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS . 



they are periodical : tliey reach a maximum value and 
then diminish. The periods which this restoration 
requires are, for the most part, enormous ; not less 
than thousands, and, in some instances, millions of 
years ; and hence it is, that some of these apparent 
derangements have heen going on in the same direction 
smce the beginning of the history of the world. But 
the restoration is in the sequel as complete as the 
derangement ; and in the mean time the disturbance 
never attains a sufficient amount seriously to alter the 
adaptations of the system."'^ 

The same examination of the subject by which this 
is proved points out also the conditions on which this 
stability depends. " I have succeeded in demon- 
strating," says Laplace, "that whatever be the masses 
of the planets, in consequence of the fact that they all 
move in the same direction, in orbits of small excen- 
tricitj^, and shghtly inchned to each other — their 
secular inequalities are periodical and included within 
narrow limits ; so that the planetary system will only 
oscillate about a mean state, and will never deviate 
from it except by a very small quantity. The ellipses 
of the planets have been, and always will be, nearly 
circular. The ecliptic will never coincide Avith the 
equator, and the entire extent of the variation in its 
inclination cannot exceed three degrees." 

There exists, therefore, it appears, in the solar 
system, a provision for the permanent regularity of its 
motions ; and this provision is found in the fact that 
the orbits of the planets are nearly circular, and nearly 

* Laplace, Expos, du Syst. du Monde, p. 441. 



STABILITY OF THE SYSTEM. 



141 



in the same j^lane, and the motions all in the same 
direction, namely, from west to east * 

Now is it probable that the occurrence of these con- 
ditions of stability in the disposition of the solar 
system is the work of chance ? Such a supposition 
appears to be quite inadmissible. Any one of the 
orbits might have had any excentricity.f In that of 
Mercury, where it is much the greatest, it is only one- 
fifth. How came it to pass that the orbits were not 
more elongated ? A little more or a little less velocity 
in their original motions would have made them so. 
They might have had any mchnation to the ecHptic 

* In this statement of Laplace, however, one remarkable provision 
for the stability of the system is not noticed. The planets Mercuiy 
and Mars, which have much the largest excentricities among the old 
planets, are those of which the masses are much the smallest. The 
mass of Jupiter is more than 2000 times that of either of these planets. 
If the orbit of Jupiter were as excentric as that of Mercury is, all the 
security for the stability of the system, which analysis has yet pointed 
out, would disappear. The earth and the smaller planets might in 
that case change their approximately circular orbits into very long 
ellipses, and thus might fall into the sun, or fly off into remote space. 

It is further remarkable, that in the newly-discovered planets, of 
which the orbits are still more excentric ^than that of Mercury, the 
masses are still smaller, so that the same provision is established in 
this case also. It does not appear that any mathematician has even 
attempted to point out a necessaiy connexion between the mass of a 
planet and excentricity of its orbit on any hypothesis. May we not 
then consider this combination of small masses with large excentricities, 
so important to the pm'poses of the world, as a mark of provident care 
in the Creator 1 

+ The excentricity of a planet's orbit is measured by taking the pro- 
portion of the difference of the greatest and least distances from the 
sun, to the sum of the same distances. Mercury's greatest and least 
distances are as 2 and 3 ; his excentricity therefore is one-fifth. 



142 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



from no degrees to ninety degrees. Mercury, which 
again deviates most widety, is inclined 7f degrees, 
Venus 3j, Saturn 2f , Jupiter Ij, Mars 3. How came 
it that their motions are thus contained within such a 
narrow strip of the sky ? One, or an}^ number of them, 
might have moved from east to west : none of them 
does so. And these circumstances, which appear to 
be, each in particular, requisite for the stability of the 
system and the smallness of its disturbances, are all 
fomid in combination. Does not this imply both clear 
purpose and profound skill ? 

It is difficult to convey an adequate notion of the 
extreme complexity of the task thus executed. A 
number of bodies, all attracting each other, are to be 
projected in such a manner tliat their revolutions 
shall be permanent and stable, their mutual pertur- 
bations always small. If we return to the basin mth 
its rolling balls, by which we before represented the 
solar system, we must complicate with new conditions 
the trial of skill which we supposed. The problem 
must now be to project at once seven such balls, all 
connected by strmgs which influence their movements, 
so that each may hit its respective mark. And we 
must further suppose that the marks are to be hit 
after many thousand revolutions of the balls. No one 
will imagine that this could be done by accident. 

In fact it is allowed by all those who have considered 
this subject, that such a coincidence of the existing 
state with the mechanical requisites of permanency 
caimot be accidental, Laplace has attempted to calcu- 
late the probability that it is not the result of accident. 



STABILITY OF THE SYSTEM. 



143 



He takes into account, in addition to tlie motions which 
we have mentioned, the revolutions of the satellites 
ahoiit their primaries, and of the smi and planets about 
their axes : and he finds that there is a probability, far 
higher than that which we have for the greater part of 
undoubted historical events, that these appearances are 
not the effect of chance. " We ought therefore," he 
says, ''to believe, with at least the same confidence, 
that a primitive cause has directed the planetary 
motions." 

The solar system is thus, by the confession of all 
sides, completely different from anything which we 
might anticipate from the casual operation of its known 
laws. The laws of motion are no less obeyed to the 
letter in the most irregular that in the most regular 
motions ; no less in the varied circuit of the ball which 
flies round a tennis court, than in the going of a clock; 
no less in the fantastical jets and leaps which breakers 
make when they burst in a corner of a rocky shore, 
than in the steady swell of the open sea. The laws of 
motion alone will not produce the regularity which we 
admire in the motions of the heavenly bodies. There 
must be an original adjustment of the system on which 
these laws are to act ; a selection of the arbitrary 
quantities which they are to involve ; a primitive cause 
which shall dispose the elements in due relation to 
each other ; in order that regular recurrence may 
accompany constant change ; that perpetual motion 
may be combined with perpetual lability; that derange- 
ments which go on increasing for thousands or for 
millions of years may finally cure themselves ; and that 



144 



COSMICAL AERANGEMEKTS. 



the same laws which lead the planets slightly aside 
from their paths, may narrowly limit their deviations, 
and bring them back from their almost imperceptible 
wanderings. 

If a man does not deny that any possible peculiarity 
in the disposition of the planets with regard to the sun 
could afford evidence of a controlling and ordering 
purpose, it seems difficult to imagine how he could 
look for evidence stronger than that which there actually 
is. Of all the innumerable possible cases of systems, 
governed by the existing laws of force and motion, that 
one is selected which alone j)i^oduces such a steadfast 
periodicity, such a constant average of circumstances, 
as are, so far as we can conceive, necessary conditions 
for the existence of organic and sentient life. And 
this selection is so far from being an obvious or easily 
discovered means to this end, that the most profound 
and attentive consideration of the properties of space 
and number, with all the api3liances and aids we can 
obtain, are barely sufficient to enable us to see that the 
end is thus secured, and that it can be secured in no 
other way. Surely the obvious impression which arises 
from this view of the subject is, that the solar system, 
with its adjustments, is the work of an Intelhgence, 
who perceives, as self-evident, those truths, to which 
we attain painfully and slowly, and after all imperfectly ; 
who has employed in every part of creation refined 
contrivances, which we can only with effort understand; 
and who, in innumerable instances, exhibits to us 
what we should look upon as remarkable difficulties 
remarkably overcome, if it were not that, through the 



THE SUN IN THE CENTRE. 145 

perfection of the provision, the trace of the difficulty is 
ahnost obliterated. 

Chap. IV. — The Sun in the Centre. 

The next circumstance which we shall notice as 
indicative of design in the arrangement of the material 
portions of the solar system, is the position of the sun, 
the source of light and heat, in the centre of the 
system. This could hardly have occurred by any thing 
which we can call chance. Let it be granted, that the 
law of gravitation is established, and that we have a 
large mass, with others much smaller in its comparative 
vicinity. The small bodies may then move round the 
larger, but this will do nothing towards making it a sun 
to them. Their motions might take place, the whole 
system remaining still utterly dark and cold, without 
day or summer. In order that we may have sometliing 
more than this blank and dead assemblage of moving 
clods, the machine must be lighted up and warmed. 
Some of the advantages of placing the lighting and 
warming apparatus in the centre are obvious to us. It 
is in this way only that we could have those regular 
periodical returns of solar influence, which, as we have 
seen, are adapted to the constitution of the living 
creation. And we can easily conceive, that there may 
be other incongruities in a sj^stem with a travelling 
sun, of which we can only conjecture the nature. No 
one probably will doubt that the existing system, with 
the sun in the centre, is better than any one of a 
different kind would be. 

L 



146 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



Now tliis lighting and warming by a central sun are 
something superadded to the mere mechanical arrange- 
ments of the universe. There is no apparent reason 
why the largest mass of gravitating matter should 
diffuse inexhaustible supplies of light and heat in all 
directions, while the other masses are merely passive 
with respect to such influences. There is no obvious 
connexion between mass and luminousness, or tem- 
perature. No one, probably, will contend that the 
materials of our system are necessarily luminous or hot. 
According to the conjectures of astronomers, the heat 
and light of the sun do not reside m its mass, but in a 
coating which lies on its sm^face. If such a coating 
were fixed there by the force of universal gravitation, 
how could we avoid having a similar coating on the 
surface of the earth, and of all the other globes of the 
system ? If light consists m the vibrations of an ether, 
which we have mentioned as a probable opinion, why 
has the sun alone the power of exciting such vibrations ? 
If light be the emission of material particles, why does 
the sun alone emit such particles? Similar questions 
may be asked, with regard to heat, whatever be the 
theory we adopt on that subject. Here then we appear 
to find marks of contrivance. The sun might become, 
we vdU suppose, the centre of the motions of the 
planets by mere mechanical causes : but what caused 
the centre of their motions to be also the source of 
those vivifjing influences ? Allowing that no inter- 
position was requisite to regulate the revolutions of the 
system, yet observe what a pecuhar arrangement in 
other respects was necessary, in order that these 



THE SUN IN THE CENTEE. 



147 



revolutions migiit produce days and seasons ! The 
machine will move of itself, we may grant : but who 
constructed the machine, so that its movements might 
answer the purposes of life ? How was the candle 
placed upon the candlestick ? how was the fire deposited 
on the hearth, so that the comfort and well-being of 
the family might be secured ? Did these too fall into 
their places by the casual operation of gravity ? and, if 
not, is there not here a clear evidence of intelhgent 
design, of arrangement with a benevolent end ? 

This argument is urged with great force by Newton 
himself. In his first letter to Bentley, he allows that 
matter might form itself into masses by the force of 
attraction. " And thus," says he, " might the sun and 
fixed stars be formed, supposing the matter were of a 
lucid nature. But how the matter should divide itself 
into two sorts ; and that part of it which is fit to 
compose a shining body should fall down into one mass, 
and make a sun ; and the rest, which is fit to compose 
an opaque body, should coalesce, not into one great 
body, like the shining matter, but into many little 
ones ; or if the sun at first were an opaque body like the 
planets, or the planets lucid bodies like the sun, how 
he alone should be changed into a shining body, whilst 
all they continue opaque ; or all they be changed into 
opaque ones, while he continued unchanged : I do not 
think explicable by mere natural causes, but am forced 
to ascribe it to the counsel and contrivance of a 
voluntary Agent." 

L 2 



148 



COSMICxlL AEEANGEMENTS. 



Chap. Y.—Thc Satellites. 

I. A PERSON of ordinary feelings, wlio, on a fine 
moonlight night, sees our satellite pouring her mild 
radiance on field and town, path and moor, will 
probably not only be disposed to "bless the useful 
light,'' but also to believe that it was "ordained" for. 
that purpose ; — that the lesser light was made to rule 
the night as certainly as the greater light was made to 
rule the da}^ 

Laplace, however, does not assent to this belief. He 
observes, that " some partisans of final causes have 
imagined that the moon was given to the earth to afford 
light during the night : " but he remarks that this 
cannot be so, for that we are often deprived at the same 
time of the light of the sun and the moon; and he 
points out how the moon might have been placed so as 
to be always " full." 

That the light of the moon affords, to a certain 
extent, a supplement to the light of the sun, will 
hardly be denied. If we take man in a condition in 
which he uses artificial light scantily only, or not at all, 
there can be no doubt that the moonlight nights are for 
him a very important addition to the time of daylight. 
And as a small proportion only of the whole number of 
nights are without some portion of moonlight, the fact 
that sometimes both luminaries are invisible very little 
diminishes the value of this advantage. Why we have 
not more moonlight, either in duration or in quantity, 
is an inquiry which a philosopher could hardly be 



THE SATELLITES. 



149 



tempted to enter upon, by any success which has 
attended previous speculations of a similar nature. 
Why should not the moon be ten times as large as 
she is ? Why should not the |)npil of man's eye be 
ten times as large as it is, so as to receive more of the 
light which does arrive ? We do not conceive that our 
inability to answer the latter question prevents our 
knowing that the eye was made for seeing : nor does our 
inability to answer the former, disturb our persuasion 
that the moon was made to give light upon the earth. 

Laplace suggests that if the moon had been placed 
at a certain distance beyond the earth, it would have 
revolved about the sun in the same time as the earth 
does, and would have always presented to us a full 
moon. For this purpose it must have been about four 
times as far from us as it really is ; and would therefore, 
other things remaining unchanged, have only been one 
sixteenth as large to the eye as our present full moon. 
We shall not dwell on the discussion of this suggestion, 
for the reason just intimated. But we may observe 
that in such a system as Laplace proposes, it is not yet 
proved, we believe, that the arrangement would be 
stable, under the influence of the disturbing forces. 
And we may add that such an arrangement, in which 
the motion of one bod}^ has a co-ordinate reference to 
two others, as the motion of the moon on this hypothesis 
would have to tlie sun and the earth, neither motion 
being subordinate to the otlier, is contrary to the 
whole known analogy of cosmical phenomena, and 
therefore has no claim to our notice as a subject of 
discussion. 



150 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



II. In turning our consideration to the satellites of 
the other planets of our system, there is one fact which 
immediately arrests our attention ; — the number of 
such attendant bodies ajipears to increase as we proceed 
to planets farther and farther from the sun. Such at 
least is the general rule. Mercury and Venus, the 
planets nearest the sun, have no such attendants, the 
earth] has one. Mars, indeed, who is still farther 
removed, has none ; nor have the minor planets, Juno, 
Vesta, Ceres, Pallas ; so that the rule is only approxi- 
matel}^ verified. But Jupiter, who is at live times the 
earth's distance, has four satellites ; and Saturn, who 
is again at a distance nearly twice as great, has seven, 
besides that most extraordinary phenomenon, his ring, 
which, for purposes of illumination, is equivalent to 
manj^ thousand satelHtes. Of Uranus it is difficult to 
speak, for his great distance renders it almost impos- 
sible to observe the smaller circumstances of his 
condition. It does not appear at all probable that 
he has a ring, like Saturn; but he has at least five 
satellites which are visible to us, at the enormous 
distance of 900 millions of miles ; and we believe that 
the astronomer will hardly deny that he may possibly 
have thousands of smaller ones circulating about him. 

But leaving conjecture, and taking only the ascer- 
tained cases of Venus, the earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, 
we conceive that a person of common understanding 
will be strongly impressed with the persuasion that the 
satellites are placed in the system with a view to 
compensate for the diminished light of the sun at 
gTeater distances. The smaller planets, Juno, Vesta, 



STABILITY OF THE OCEAN. 



151 



Ceres, and PaUas, differ from tlie rest in so many 
wa3^s, and suggest so maiij conjectures of reasons for 
such differences, that we should ahnost expect to find 
them exceptions to such a rule. Mars is a more 
obvious exception. Some persons might conjecture 
from this case, that the arrangement itself, like other 
useful arrangements, has been brought about by some 
wider law which we have not yet detected. But whether 
or not we entertain such a guess, (it can be nothing 
more,) we see in other parts of creation so many 
examples of apparent exceptions to rules, which are 
afterwards found to be capable of explanation, or to 
be provided for by particular contrivances, that no one, 
familiar v/ith such contemplations, will, by one anomaly, 
be driven from the persuasion that the end which the 
arrangements of the satellites seem suited to answer is 
really one of the ends of their creation. 



Chap. VI. — The Stability of the Ocean. 

What is meant by the stability of the ocean may 
perhaps be explained by means of the following illus- 
tration. If we suppose the whole globe of the earth 
to be composed of water, a sphere of cork immersed in 
any part of it would come to the surface of the water, 
except it were placed exactly at the centre of the earth; 
and even if it were so placed, the shghtest displacement 
of the cork sphere would end in its rising and floating. 
This would be the case whatever were the size of the 
cork sphere, and even if it were so large as to leave 
comparatively little room for the water ; and the result 



132 



COSMIC AL ARRANGEMENTS. 



would be nearly the same, if tlie cork spliere, when in 
its central position, had on its surface prominences 
which projected above the surface of the water. Now 
this brings us to the case in which we have a globe 
resembhng our present earth, composed like it of water 
and of a solid centre, with islands and continents, but 
having these solid parts all made of cork. And it 
appears by the preceding reasoning, that in this case, 
if there were to be any disturbance either of the solid 
or fluid parts, the solid parts would rise from the 
centre of the watery sphere as far as they could : that 
is, all the water would run to one side and leave the 
land on the other. Such an ocean would be in unstable 
equihbrium. 

Now a question naturally occurs, is the equilibrium 
of our present ocean of this unstable land, or is it 
stable ? The sea, after its most violent agitations, 
appears to return to its former state of repose ; but 
may not some extraordinary cause produce in it some 
derangement which may go on increasing till the waters 
all rush one way, and thus drown the highest moun- 
tains ? And if we are safe from this danger, what are 
the conditions by which we are so secm^ed ? 

The illustration which we have employed obviously 
suggests the answer to this question ; namely, that the 
equilibrium is unstable, so long as the solid parts are 
of such a kind as to float in the fluid parts ; and of 
course we should expect that the equilibrium will be 
stable whenever the contrary is the case, that is, when 
the solid parts of the earth are of greater specific 
gravity than the sea. A more systematic mathematical 



STABILITY OF THE OCEAN. 



153 



calculation has conducted Laplace to a demonstration 
of tliis result. 

The mean specific gravity of the earth appears to he 
ahout five times that of water, so that the condition of 
the stahility of the ocean is abundantly fulfilled. And 
the provision by which this stability is secured was put 
in force through the action of those causes, whatever 
they were, which made the density of the solid materials 
and central parts of the earth greater than the density 
of the incumbent fluid. 

When we consider, however, the manner in which 
the wisdom of the Creator, even in those cases in wliich 
his care is most apparent, as in the structure of 
animals, works by means of intermediate causes and 
general laws, we shall not be ready to reject all belief 
of an end in such a case as this, merety because the 
means are mechanical agencies. Laplace says, "In 
virtue of gravity, the most dense of the strata of the 
earth are those nearest to the centre ; and thus the 
mean density exceeds that of the waters which cover 
it ; which suffices to secure the stabilit}^ of the equi- 
librium of the seas, and to put a bridle upon the fury 
of the waves." This statement, if exact, would not 
prove that He who subjected the materials of the earth 
to the action of gravity did not intend to restrain the 
rage of the waters : but the statement is not true in 
fact. The lower strata, so far as man has yet examined, 
are very far from being constantly, or even generally, 
heavier than the superincumbent ones. And certainly 
solidification by no means implies a greater density 
than fluidity : the density of Jupiter is one fourth, that 



154 



COSMICAL AEEATsGEMENTS. 



of Saturn less than one seventh, of that of the earth. 
If an ocean of water were poured into the cavities upon 
the surface of Saturn, its equilihrium would not be 
stable. It would leave its bed on one side of the 
globe ; and the planet would finally be composed of 
one hemisphere of water and one of land. If the 
earth had an ocean of a fluid six times as heavy as 
water, (quicksilver is thirteen times as heavy,) we 
should have, in lil^e manner, a dry and a fluid hemi- 
ST)here. Our inland rivers would probably never be 
able to reach the shores, but would be dried up on their 
wa}^, like those which run in torrid deserts ; perhaps 
the evaporation from the ocean would never reach the 
inland mountains, and we should have no rivers at all. 
Without attempting to imagine the details of such a 
condition, it is easy to see, that to secure the existence 
of a different one is an end which is in harmony with 
all that we see of the preserving care displayed in the 
rest of creation.* 

CHAr. YIL— The Nebular Hypothesis. 

We have referred to Laplace, as a profound mathe- 
matician, who has strongly expressed the opinion, that 

* The stability of the axis of rotation about which the earth revolves 
has sometimes been adduced as an instance of preservative care. The 
stability, however, would follow necessarily, if the earth, or its super- 
ficial parts, were originally fluid ; and that they were so is an opinion 
widely received, both among astronomers and geologists. The original 
fluidity of the earth is probably a circumstance depending upon the 
general scheme of creation ; and cannot with propriety be considered 
with reference to one particular result. "We shall therefore omit any 
further consideration of this argument. 



NEBULAE HYPOTHESIS. 



155 



the arrangement by which the stabihty of the solar 
system is secured is not the result of chance ; that 
" a primitive cause has directed the planetary motions." 
This author, however, having arrived, as we have 
done, at this conviction, does not draw from it the 
conclusion which has appeared to us so irresistible, 
that " the admirable arrangement of the solar system 
cannot but be the work of an intelligent, and most 
powerful Being." He quotes these expressions, which 
are those of Newton, and points at them as instances 
where that gTeat philosopher had deviated from the 
method of true philosophy. He himself proposes an 
hypothesis concerning the nature of the primitive cause 
of which he conceives the existence to be thus pro- 
bable : and this hypothesis, on account of the facts 
which it attem]3ts to combine, the view of the universe 
which it presents, and the eminence of the person by 
whom it is propounded, deserves our notice. 

I. Laplace conjectures that in the original condition 
of the solar system, the sun revolved upon his axis, 
surrounded by an atmosphere which, in virtue of an 
excessive heat, extended far beyond the orbits of all 
the planets, the planets as yet having no existence. 
The heat gradually diminished, and as the solar 
atmosphere contracted by cooling, the raj)idity of its 
rotation increased by the laws of rotatory motion, and 
an exterior zone of vapour was detached from the rest, 
the central attraction being no longer able to overcome 
the increased centrifugal force. This zone of vapour 
might in some cases retain its form, as we see it in 
Saturn's ring; but more usually the ring of vapour 



156 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



would break into several masses, and these would 
generally coalesce into one mass, which would revolve 
about the sun. Such portions of the solar atmosphere, 
abandoned successively at different distances, would 
form " planets in the state of vapour." These masses 
of vapour, it appears from mechanical considerations, 
would have each its rotatory motion, and as the cooling 
of the vapour still went on, would each produce a 
planet, which might have satellites and rings, formed 
from the planet in the same manner as the planets 
were formed from the atmosphere of the sun. 

It may easily be conceived that all the primary 
motions of a system so i^roduced would be nearly 
circular, nearly in the plane of the original equator of 
the solar rotation, and in the direction of that rotation. 
Reasons are offered also to show that the motions of 
the satelhtes thus produced and the motions of rotation 
of the planets must be in the same direction. And 
thus it is held that the hypothesis accounts for the 
most remarkable circumstances in the structure of the 
solar system : namely, the motions of the planets in 
the same direction, and almost in the same -plane ; the 
motions of the satelhtes in the same direction as 
those of the planets ; the motions of rotation of these 
different bodies still in the same direction as the other 
motions, and in planes not much different; the small 
excentricity of the orbits of the planets, upon which 
condition, along with some of the preceding ones, the 
stability of the system depends ; and the position of 
the source of light and heat in the centre of the 
system. 



NEBULAE HYPOTHESIS. 



157 



It is not necessary for the purpose, nor suitable to 
the plan of the present treatise, to examine, on physical 
grounds, the probability of the above hj^pothesis. It 
is proposed by its author, with great diffidence, as a 
conjecture only. We might, therefore, very reasonably 
put off all discussion of the bearings of this opinion 
upon our views of the government of the world, till the 
opinion itself should have assumed a less indistinct 
and precarious form. It can be no charge against our 
doctrines, that there is a difficulty in reconciling with 
them arbitrar}^ guesses and half-formed theories. We 
shall, however, make a few observations upon this 
nebular hypothesis, as it may be termed. 

II. If we grant, for a moment, the hypothesis, it by 
no means proves that the solar system was formed 
without the intervention of intelligence and design. 
It only transfers our view of the skill exercised, and 
the means employed, to another part of the Avork. 
For, how came the sun and its atmosphere to have 
such materials, such motions, such a constitution, that 
these consequences followed from their primordial 
condition ? How came the parent vapour thus to be 
capable of coherence, separation, contraction, solidifi- 
cation ? How came the laws of its motion, attraction, 
repulsion, condensation, to be so fixed, as to lead to a 
beautiful and harmonious system in the end? How 
came it to be neither too fluid nor too tenacious, to 
contract neither too quickly nor too slowly, for the 
successive formation of the several planetary bodies ? 
How came that substance, which at one time was a 
luminous vapour, to be, at a subsequent period, solids 



158 



COSMICAL AREANGEMENTS. 



and fluids of many various lands ? What but design 
and intelligence prepared and tempered this previously 
existing element, so that it should by its natural 
changes produce such an orderly system ? 

And if in this way we suppose a planet to be pro- 
duced, what sort of a body would it be ? — something, 
it may be presumed, resembUng a large meteoric stone. 
How comes this mass to be covered with motion and 
organisation, with life and happiness ? "What primitive 
cause stocked it with plants and animals, and produced 
all the wonderful and subtle contrivances which we 
find in their structure, all the wide and profound 
mutual dependences which we trace in their economy ? 
Was man, with his thought and feeling, his powers 
and hopes, his will and conscience, also produced as 
an ultimate result of the condensation of the solar 
atmosphere ? Except we allow a prior purpose and 
intelligence presiding over this material "primitive 
cause," how ii'reconcilable is it with the evidence which 
crowds in upon us on every side ! 

III. In the next place we may observe concerning this 
hjrpothesis, that it carries us back to the beginning of 
the present system of things ; but that it is impossible 
for our reason to stop at the point thus j^resented 
to it. The sun, the earth, the planets, the moons, 
were brought into their present order out of a previous 
state, and, as is supposed in the theory, by the natural 
operation of laws. But how came that previous state 
to exist? We are compelled to suppose that it, in 
like manner, was educed from a still prior state of 
things ; and this, again, must have been the result of a 



ISiEBTJLAE HYPOTHESIS. 



159 



condition prior still. Nor is it possible for ns to find, 
in the tenets of the nebular hypothesis, any resting- 
place or satisfaction for the mind. The same reasoning 
faculty, which seeks for the origin of the present 
system of things, and is capable of assenting to, or 
dissenting from, the hypothesis propounded by Laplace 
as an answer to this inquiry, is necessarily led to seek, 
in the same manner, for the- origin of any previous 
system of things^, out of which the present may appear 
to have grown : and must pursue this train of inquiries 
unremittingly, so long as the answer which it receives 
describes a mere assemblage of matter and motion; 
since it would be to contradict the laws of matter and 
the nature of motion, to suppose such an assemblage 
to be the first condition. 

The reflection just stated, may be illustrated by the 
further consideration of the nebular hypothesis. This 
opinion refers us, for the origin of the solar system, to 
a sun surrounded with an atmosphere of enormously 
elevated temperature, revolving and cooling. But as 
we ascend to a still earlier period, what state of things 
are we to suppose ? — a still liigher temperature, a still 
more diffused atmosphere. Laplace conceives that, in 
its primitive state, the sun consisted in a diffused 
luminosity, so as to resemble those nebula among the 
fixed stars, which are seen by the aid of the telescope, 
and which exliibit a nucleus, more or less brilliant, 
surrounded by a cloudy brightness. " This anterior- 
state was itself preceded by other states, in which the 
nebulous matter was more and more diffused, the 
nucleus being less and less luminous. We arrive," 



160 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



Laplace says, "in this manner, at a nebulosity so 
diffuse, tliat its existence could scarcely be suspected." 

" Such is," he adds, " in fact, the first state of the 
nebulae which Herschel carefully observed by means of 
his powerful telescopes. He traced the progress of con- 
densation, not indeed on one nebula, for this progress 
can only become perceptible to us in the course of 
centuries ; but in the assemblage of nebulae ; much in 
the same manner as in a large forest we may trace the 
growth of trees among the examples of different ages 
which stand side by side. He saw, in the first place, 
the nebulous matter dispersed in patches, in the 
different parts of the sky. He saw in some of these 
patches this matter feebly condensed round one or 
more faint nuclei. In other nebulae, these nuclei were 
brighter in proportion to the surrounding nebulosity ; 
when by a further condensation the atmosphere of 
each nucleus becomes separate from the others, the 
result is multiple nebulous stars, formed by brilliant 
nuclei very near each other, and each surrounded by an 
atmosphere : sometimes the nebulous matter condens- 
ing in a uniform manner has produced nebulous 
systems which are called planetary. Finally, a still 
greater degree of condensation transforms all these 
nebulous systems into stars. The nebulae, classed 
according to this philosophical view, indicate with 
extreme probability their future transformation into 
stars, and the anterior nebulous condition of the stars 
which now exist." 

It appears then that the highest point to which this , 
series of conjectures can conduct us, is an extremely 



NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. 



161 



diffused nebulosity," attended, we may suppose, by a 
far higher degree of heat, than that which, at a later 
period of the hypothetical process, keeps all the mate- 
rials of our earth and planets in a state of vapour. 
Now, is it not impossible to avoid asking, whence was 
this light, this heat, this diffusion ? How came the 
laws which such a state implies, to be alread}^ in 
existence ? Whether light and heat produce their 
effects by means of fluid vehicles or otherwise, they 
have complex and varied laws which indicate the exis- 
tence of some subtle machinery for their action. When 
and how was this machinery constructed ? Whence, 
too, that enormous expansive power which the nebulous 
matter is supposed to possess ? And if, as would 
seem to be supposed in this doctrine, all the material 
ingredients of the earth existed in this diffuse nebu- 
losity, either in the state of vapour, or in some state of 
still greater expansion, whence were they and their 
properties ? how came there to be of each simple 
substance which now enters into the composition of 
the universe, just so much and no more ? Do we not, 
far more than ever, require an origin of this origin ? 
an explanation of this explanation ? Whatever may 
be the merits of the opinion as a physical hypothesis, 
with which we do not here meddle, can it for a moment 
prevent our looking beyond the hypothesis, to a First 
Cause, an Intelligent Author, an origin proceeding 
from free vohtion, not from material necessity ? 

But again : let us ascend to the highest point of the 
hypothetical progression : let us suppose the nebulosity 
diffused throughout all space, so that its course of 

M 



162 



COSMICAL AEEANGEMENTS. 



running into patches is not yet begun. How are we 
to suppose it distributed? Is it equably diffused in 
every part? clearly not; for if it were, what should 
cause it to gather into masses, so various in size, form, 
and arrangement ? The separation of the nebulous 
matter into distinct nebulse implies necessarily some 
original inequality of distribution ; some determining 
circumstances in its primitive condition. Whence 
were these circumstances ? this inequality ? we are 
still compelled to seek some ulterior agency and power. 

Why must the primeval condition be one of change 
at all ? W^hy should not the nebulous matter be 
equably diffused throughout space, and continue for 
ever in its state of equable diffusion, as it must do, 
from the absence of all cause to determme tlie time and 
manner of its separation ? why should this nebulous 
matter grow cooler and cooler ? why should it not 
retain for ever the same degree of heat, whatever heat 
be ? If heat be a fluid ; if to cool be to part with this 
fluid, as many philosophers suppose, what becomes of 
the fluid heat of the nebulous matter, as the matter 
cools down ? Into what unoccupied region does it find 
its way? 

Innumerable questions of the same kind might be 
asked, and the conclusion to be drawn is, that every 
new physical theory which we include in our view of 
the universe, involves us in new difficulties and per- 
plexities, if we try to erect it into an ultimate and final 
account of the existence and arrangement of the world 
in which we live. With the evidence of such theories, 
considered as scientific generalisations of ascertained 



NEBULAE HYPOTHESIS. 



163 



facts, with their claims to a place in our natural philo- 
sophy, we have here nothing to do. But if they are 
put forwards as a disclosure of the ultimate cause of 
that which occurs, and as superseding the necessity of 
looking further or higher ; if they claim a place in our 
Natural Theology, as well as our Natural Philosoi)hy ; 
we conceive that theii' pretensions will not bear a 
moment's examination. 

Leaving then to other persons and to future ages to 
decide upon the scientific merits of the nebular hypo- 
thesis, we conceive that the final fate of this opinion 
cannot, in sound reason, affect at all the view which we 
have been endeavouring to illustrate ; — the view of the 
universe as the work of a wise and good Creator. Let 
it be supposed that the point to which this hypothesis 
leads us, is the ultimate point of physical science : that 
the farthest glimpse we can obtain of the material 
universe by our natural faculties, shows it to us occupied 
by a boundless abyss of luminous matter : still we ask, 
how space came to be thus occupied ? how matter came 
to be thus lummous ? If we ^ establish by physical 
proofs, that the first fact which can be traced in the 
history of the world, is that " there was light ; " we 
shall still be led, even by our natural reason, to suppose 
that before this could occur, " God said, let there be 

light." 



M 2 



164 



COSMICAL AEEANGEMENTS. 



Chap. YUJ—TIie Existence of a Resisting Medium in the 
Solar System. 

The question of a plenum and a vacuum was formerly 
much debated among those who speculated concerning 
the constitution of the universe ; that is, they disputed 
whether the celestial and terrestrial spaces are abso- 
lutely full, each portion being occupied by some matter 
or other; or whether there are, between and among 
the material parts of the world, empty spaces free from 
all matter, however rare. This question was often 
treated by means of abstract conceptions and a 'priori 
reasonings ; and was sometimes considered as one in 
which the result of the struggle between rival systems of 
philosophy, the Cartesian and Newtonian for instance, 
was involved. It was conceived by some that the 
Newtonian doctrine of the motions of the heavenly 
bodies, according to mechanical laws, required that the 
space in which they moved should be, absolutely and 
metaphysically speaking, a vacuum. 

This, however, is not necessary to the truth of the 
Newtonian doctrines, and does not appear to have 
been intended to be asserted by Newton himself. 
Undoubtedly, according to his theor}", the motions of 
the heavenly bodies were calculated on the supposition 
that they do move in a space void of any resisting 
fluid ; and the comparison of the places so calculated 
wiili the places actually observed (continued for a long 
course of years, and tried in innumerable cases), did 
not show any difference which implied the existence 



RESISTING MEDIUM. 



165 



of a resisting fluid. Tlie Newtonian, therefore, was 
justified in asserting that either there was no such 
fluid, or that it was so thin and rarefied, that no 
phenomenon yet examined by astronomers was capable 
of betraying its effects. 

This was all that the Newtonian needed or ought to 
maintain ; for liis philosophy, founded altogether upon 
observation, had nothing to do with abstract possi- 
bilities and metaphysical necessities. And in the same 
manner in which observation and calculation thus 
showed that there could be none but a very rare 
medium pervading the solar system, it was left open to 
observation and calculation to prove that there w^as 
such a medium, if any facts could be discovered which 
offered suitable evidence. 

Within the last few j^ears, facts have been observed 
which show, in the opinion of some of the best mathe- 
maticians of Em'ope, that such a very rare medium 
does really occupy the si^aces in which the planets 
move ; and it may be proper and interesting to con- 
sider the bearing of this opinion upon the views and 
arguments which we have had here to present. 

I. Eeasons might be offered, founded on the universal 
diffusion of light and on other gTounds, for believing 
that the planetary spaces cannot be entirely free from 
matter of some kind ; and wherever matter is, we 
should expect resistance. But the facts wliich have 
thus led astronomers to the conviction that such a 
resisting medium really exists, are certain ciixum- 
stances occurring in the motion of a body revolvmg 
round the sun, which is now usually called Enckes 



166 



COSMIC AL ARRANGEMENTS. 



comet. This body revolves in a very excentric or 
oblong orbit, its greatest or aphelion distance from the 
sun, and its nearest or perihelion distance, being in the 
proportion of more than ten to one. In this respect it 
agrees with other comets; but its time of revolution 
about the sun is much less than that, of the comets 
which have excited most notice ; for while they appear 
only at long intervals of years, the body of which we 
are now speaking returns to its perihelion every 1208 
days, or in about three years and one-third. Another 
observable cii'cumstance in this singular body is its 
extreme apparent tenuity : it appears as a loose inde- 
finitely formed speck of vapour, through which the 
stars are visible Avith no perceptible diminution of 
their brightness. This body was first seen by Mechain 
and Messier, in 1786,* but they obtained only two 
observations, whereas three, at least, are requisite to 
determine the path of a heavenly body. Miss Herschel 
discovered it again in 1795, and it was observed by 
several European astronomers. In 1805 it was again 
seen, and again in 1819. Hitherto it was supposed 
that the four comets thus observed Avere all different ; 
Encke, however, showed that the observations could 
only be explained by considering them as retm-ns of 
the same revolving body; and by doing this, well 
merited that his name should be associated with the 
subject of his discovery. The return of this body in 
1822 was calculated beforehand, and observed in New 
South Wales, the comet being then in the southern 
part of the heavens ; but on comparing the calculated 

* Airy on Encke's Comet, p. 1. note. 



IIESISTING 3IEDIU:M. 



167 



and the observed places, Encke concluded that the 
observations could not be exactly explained, without 
supposing a resisting medium. This comet was again 
generally observed in Em^ope in 1825 and 1828, and 
the cii'cumstances of the last appearance were parti- 
cularly favourable for determining the absolute amount 
of the retardation arising from the medium, which the 
other observations had left undetermined. 

The effect of this retarding influence is, as might be 
supposed from what has akeady been said, extremely 
slight ; and would probably not have been perceptible 
at all, but for the loose texture, and small quantity of 
matter, of the revolving hodj. It will easily be con- 
ceived that a body which has perhaps no more sohdity 
or coherence than a cloud of dust, or a wreath of smoke, 
wlU have less force to make its way through a fluid 
medium, however thin, than a more dense and compact 
body would have. In atmospheric air much rarefied, 
a buUet might proceed for miles without losing any of 
its velocity, while such a loose mass as the comet is 
supposed to be, would lose its projectile motion in the 
space of a few yards. This consideration wiU account 
for the circumstance, that the existence of such a 
medium has been detected by observing the motions of 
Encke's comet, though the motions of the heavenly 
bodies previously observed showed no trace of such an 
impediment. 

It will i^erhaps appear remarkable that a body so 
light and loose as we have described this comet to be, 
should revolve about the sun by laws as fixed and 
certain as those which regulate the motions of those 



168 



COSMICAL AERANGEMENTS. 



great and solid masses, the Earth and Jupiter. It is, 
however, certain from observation, that this comet is 
acted upon by exactly the same force of solar attrac- 
tion as the other bodies of the system ; and not only 
so, but that it also experiences the same kind of dis • 
turbing force from the action of the other planets, which 
they exercise upon each other. The effect of all these 
causes has been calculated with great care and labour ; 
and the result has been an agreement with observation 
sufficiently close to show that these causes really act, 
but at the same time a residual phenomenon (as Sir J. 
Herscliel expresses it) has come to light ; and from 
this has been collected the inference of a resisting 
medium. 

This medium produces a very small effect upon the 
motion of the comet, as will easily be supposed from 
what has been said. By Encke's calculation, it appears 
that the effect of the resistance, supposing the comet to 
move in the earth's orbit, would be about 1 -850th of 
the sun's force of the body. The effect of such a 
resistance may appear, at first sight, paradoxical; it 
would be to make the comet move more slowly, but 
perforin its revolutions more quickly. This, however, 
will perhaps be understood if it be considered that by 
moving more slowly the comet will be more rapidly 
draivn towards the centre, and that in tliis way a 
revolution will be described by a shorter path than it 
was before. It appears that in getting round the sun, 
the comet gains more in this way than it loses by the 
diminution of its velocity. The case is much like that 
of a stone thrown in the air; the stone moves more 



EESISTING MEDIUM. 



169 



slowly than it would do if there were no air ; but yet it 
comes to the earth sooner than it would do on that 
supposition. 

It appears that the effect of the resistance of the 
ethereal medium, from the first discovery of the comet 
up to the present time, has been to diminish the time 
of revolution by about two days ; and the comet is ten 
days in advance of the place which it would have 
reached, if there had been no resistance. 

II. The same medium which is thus shown to produce 
an effect upon Encke's comet, must also act upon the 
planets which move through the same spaces. The 
effect upon the planets, however, must be very much 
smaller than the effect upon the comet, in consequence 
of their greater quantity of matter. 

It is not easy to assign any probable value, or even 
any certain limit, to the effect of the resisting medium 
upon the planets. We are entirely ignorant of the 
comparative mass of the comet, and of any of the 
planets ; and hence, cannot make any calculation, 
founded on such a comparison. Newton has endea- 
voured to show how small the resistance of the medium 
must be, if it exists.* The result of his calculation is, 
that if we take the density of the medium to be that 
which our air will have at 200 miles from the earth's 
surface, supposing the law of diminution of density to 
go on unaltered, and if we suppose Jupiter to move in 
such a medium, he would in a million years lose less 
than a milliontli part of his velocity. If a planet, 
revolving about the sun, were to lose any portion of its 

* Principia, b. iii., prop. x. 



170 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



velocity by the effect of resistance, it would be drawn 
proportionally nearer the sun, the tendency towards 
the centre being no longer sufficiently counteracted by 
that centrifugal force which arises from the body's 
velocity. And if the resistance were to continue to 
act, the body would be drawn perpetually nearer and 
nearer to the centre, and would describe its revolutions 
quicker and quicker, till at last it would reach the 
central body, and the system would cease to be a 
system. 

This result is true, however small be the velocit}' 
lost by resistance ; the only difference being, that when 
the resistance is small, the time requisite to extinguish 
the whole motion will be proportionally longer. In all 
cases the times which come under our consideration in 
problems of this kind are enormous to common appre- 
hension. Thus Encke's comet, according to the results 
of the observations already made, will lose, in ten revo- 
lutions, or thirty-three years, less than 1-lOOOth of its 
velocity ; and if this law were to continue, the velocity 
would not be reduced to one -half its present value in 
less than seven thousand revolutions, or twenty-three 
thousand years. If Jupiter were to lose one -millionth 
of liis velocity in a million years (which, as has been 
seen, is far more than can be considered in any wa}^ 
probable), he would require seventy millions of years to 
lose 1- 1000th of the velocity ; and a period seven 
hundred times as long to reduce the velocity to one- 
half. These are periods of time which quite over- 
whelm the imagination ; and it is not pretended that 
the calculations are made with any pretensions to 



RESISTING MEDIUM. 



171 



accuracy. But at the same time it is beyond doubt, 
that though the intervals of time thus assigned to these 
changes are highly vague and uncertain, the changes 
themselves must, sooner or later, take place, in con- 
sequence of the existence of the resisting medium. 
Since there is such a retarding force perpetually acting, 
however slight it be, it must in the end destroy all the 
celestial motions. It may be millions of millions of 
years before the earth's retardation may perceptibly 
affect the apparent motion of the sun ; but still the day 
will come (if the same Providence which formed the 
system, should permit it to continue so long) when this 
cause will entirely change the length of our year and 
the course of our seasons, and finally stop the earth's 
motion romid the sun altogther. The smalhiess of the 
resistance, however small we choose to suppose it, does 
not allow us to escape tliis certainty. There is a re- 
sisting medium; and, therefore, the movements of the 
solar system cannot go on for ever. The moment 
such a fluid is ascertained to exist, the eternity of the 
movements of the planets becomes as impossible as a 
perpetual motion on the earth. 

III. The vast periods which are brought under our 
consideration in tracing the effects of the resisting 
medium, harmonise with all that we learn of the con- 
stitution of the universe from other sources. Millions, 
and millions of millions of years are expressions that 
at first sight appear fitted only to overwhelm and 
confound all our powers of thought : and such numbers 
are no doubt beyond the limits of anything which w^e 
can distinctly conceive. But our powers of conception 



172 



COSMICAL AllRANGEMENTS. 



are suited rather to the wants and uses of common life, 
than to a complete survey of the universe. It is in no 
way unlikely that the whole duration of the solar system 
should be a period immeasui'ably great in our eyes, 
though demonstrably finite. Such enormous numbers 
have been brought under our notice by all the advances 
we have made in our knowledge of nature. The 
smallness of the objects detected by the microscope 
and of their j)arts ; — the multitude of the stars which 
the best telescopes of modern times have discovered in 
the sky ; — the dm'ation assigned to the globe of the 
earth by geological investigation; — all these results 
require for their probable expression, numbers, which, 
so far as we see, are on the same gigantic scale as the 
number of years in which the solar system will become 
entirely deranged. Such calculations depend in some 
degree on om- relation to the vast aggregate of the 
works of oiu' Creator; and no person who is accus- 
tomed to meditate on these subjects will be surprised 
that the numbers which such an occasion requires 
should oppress our comprehension. No one who has 
dwelt on the thought of a universal Creator and Pre- 
server, will be surprised to find the conviction forced 
upon the mind of every new train of speculation, that 
viewed in reference to Him, our space is a point, our 
time a moment, our millions a handful, our permanence 
a quick decay. 

Our knowledge of the vast periods, both geological 
and astronomical, of w^hicli we have spoken, is most 
slight. It is, in fact, little more than that such periods 
exist ; that the surface of the earth has, at wide intervals 



EESTSTING MEDIUM. 



173 



of time, undergone great changes in the disposition 
of land and water, and in the forms of animal 
life; and that the motions of the heavenly bodies 
round the sun are affected, though with inconceivable 
slowness, by a force which must end by deranging them 
altogether. It would, therefore, be rash to endeavour 
to establish any analogy between the periods thus dis- 
closed ; but we may observe that they agree in this, 
that they reduce all things to the general rule of finite 
duration. As all the geological states of which we find 
evidence in the present state of the earth have had 
their termination, so also the astronomical conditions, 
under which the revolutions of the earth itself proceed, 
involve the necessity of a future cessation of these 
revolutions. 

The contemplative person may well be struck by 
this universal law of the creation. We are in the habit 
sometimes of contrasting the transient destmy of man 
with the permanence of the forests, the mountains, the 
ocean, — with the unwearied circuit of the sun. But 
this contrast is a delusion of our own imagination : the 
difference is after all but one of degree. The forest tree 
endures for its centuries and then decays; the mountains 
crumble and change, and perhaps subside in some 
convulsion of nature ; the sea retires, and the shore 
ceases to resound with the " everlasting " voice of the 
ocean : such reflections have already crowded upon the 
mind of the geologist ; and it now appears that the 
courses of the heavens themselves are not exempt from 
the universal law of decay ; that not only the rocks and 
the mountains, but the sun and the moon have the 



174 



COSMIC AL ARRANGEMENTS . 



sentence "to end" stamped upon their foreheads. 
They enjoy no privilege beyond man except a longer 
respite. The ephemeron perishes in an hour; man 
endures for his threescore years and ten ; an empire, a 
nation, numbers its centuries, it may be its thousands 
of years ; the continents and islands which its dominion 
includes, have perhaps their date, as those which pre- 
ceded them have had; and the very revolutions of the 
sky by which centuries are numbered will at last 
languish and stand still. 

To dwell on the moral and rehgious reflections sug- 
gested by this train of thought is not to our present 
purpose ; but we may observe that it introduces a 
homogeneity, so to speak, into the government of the 
universe. Perpetual change, perpetual progression, 
increase and diminution, appear to be the rules of the 
material world, and to prevail without exception. The 
smaller x)ortions of matter which we have near us, and 
the larger, which appear as luminaries at a vast dis- 
tance, different as they are in our mode of conceiving 
them, obey the same laws of motion ; and these laws 
produce the same results : in both cases motion is 
perpetually destroyed, except it be repaired by some 
living power ; in both cases the relative rest of the 
parts of a material system is the conclusion to which 
its motion tends. 

IV. It may, perhaps, appear to some, that this 
acknowledgment of the tendency of the system to 
derangement through the action of a resisting medium 
is inconsistent with the argument which we have drawn, 
in a previous chapter, from the provisions for its 



RESISTING MEDIUM. 



175 



stability. In reality, however, the two views are in 
perfect agreement, so far as our purpose is concerned. 
The main point which we had to urge, in the consi- 
deration of the stability of the sj'-stem, was, not that it 
is constructed to last for ever, but that while it lasts, 
the deviations from its mean condition are very small. 
It is this property which fits the world for its uses. 
To maintain either the past or the future eternity of 
the world, does not a2)pear consistent with physical 
principles, as it certainly does not fall in with the 
convictions of the religious man, in whatever way 
obtained. We conceive that this state of things has 
had a beginning ; we conceive that it will have an end. 
But, in the mean time, we find it fitted, by a number of 
remarkable arrangements, to be the habitation of living 
creatures. The conditions which secure the stabihty, 
and the smallness of the perturbations of the system, 
are among these provisions. If the excentricity of the 
orbit of Venus, or of Jupiter, were much greater than 
it is, not only might some of the planets, at the close 
of ages, fall into the sun or fly off into infinite space, 
but also, in the intermediate time, the earth's orbit 
might become much more excentric ; the course of the 
seasons and the average of temperature might vary from 
what they now are, so as to mjure or destroy the whole 
organic creation. By certain original arrangements 
these destructive oscillations are prevented. So long 
as the bodies continue to revolve, their orbits will not 
be much different from what they now are. And this 
result is not affected by the action of the resisting 
medium. Such a medium cannot increase the small 



176 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



exceiitricities of the orbits. The range of the periodical 
oscillations of heat and cold will not be extended by 
the mechanical effect of the medium, nor would be, 
even if its density were incomparably greater than it is. 
The resisting medium, therefore, does not at all coun- 
teract that which is most important in the provision 
for the permanency of the solar system. If the stabihty 
of the system had not been secured by the adjustments 
which we described in a former chapter, the course of 
the seasons might have been disturbed to an injurious 
or even destructive extent in the course of a few 
centuries, or even within the hmits of one generation ; 
by the effect of the resisting medium, the order of 
nature remains unchanged for a period, compared with 
which the known duration of the human race is 
insignificant. 

But, it may be objected, the effect of the medium 
must be ultimately to affect the duration of the earth's 
revolution round the sun, and thus to derange those 
adaptations which depend on the length of the year. 
And, without question, if we permit ourselves to look 
forw^ards to that inconceivably distant period at which 
the effect of the medium will become sensible, this 
must be allowed to be true, as has been already stated. 
Millions, and probably millions of millions of years 
express inadequately the distance of time at which this 
cause would produce a serious effect. That the 
machine of the universe is so constructed that it may 
answer its purposes for such a period, is surely suffi- 
cient proof of the skill of its workmanship, and of the 
reality of its purpose : and those persons, probably. 



RESISTING MEDIUM. 



177 



who are best convinced that it is the work of a wise and 
good Creator, will be least disposed to consider the 
system as imperfect, because in its present condition it 
is not fitted for eternity. 

V. The doctrine of a resisting medium leads us to- 
wards a point which the Nebular Hypothesis assumes ; 
— a beginning of the present order of things. There 
must have been a commencement of the motions now 
going on in the solar sj^stem. Since these motions, 
when once begun, would be deranged and destroyed in 
a period which, however large, is yet finite, it is obvious 
we cannot carry their origin indefinitely backwards in 
the range of past duration. There is a period in which 
these revolutions, whenever they had begun, would 
have brought the revolving bodies into contact with 
the central mass ; and this period has in our system 
not yet elapsed. The watch is still going, and 
therefore it must have been wound up within a 
limited time. 

The solar system, at this its beginning, must have 
been arranged and put in motion by some cause. If 
we suppose this cause to operate by means of the con- 
figurations and the properties of previously existing 
matter, these configurations must have resulted from 
some still previous cause, these properties must have 
produced some previous effects. We are thus led to a 
condition still earlier than the assumed beginning ; — 
to an origin of the original state of the universe ; and 
in this manner we are carried perpetually further and 
further back, through a labyrinth of mechanical causa- 
tion, without any possibihty of finding anything in 

N 



178 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



which the mind can acquiesce or rest, till we admit " a 
First Cause which is not mechanical." 

Thus the argument wliich was before urged against 
those in particular, who put forwards the Nebular 
Hypothesis in opposition to the admission of an In- 
telligent Creator, offers itself again, as cogent in itself, 
when we adopt the opinion of a resisting medium, for 
which the physical proofs have been found to be so 
strong. The argument is indeed forced upon our 
minds, whatever view we take of the past history of 
the universe. Some have endeavoured to evade its 
force by maintaining that the world as it now exists 
has existed from eternity. They assert that the present 
order of things, or an order of things in some way 
resembling the present, produced by the same causes, 
governed by the same laws, has prevailed through an 
infinite succession of past ages. We shall not dwell 
upon any objections to this tenet which might be drawn 
from our own conceptions, or from what may be called 
metaphysical sources. Nor shall we refer to the various 
considerations which history, geology, and astronomical 
records supply, and which tend to show, not only that 
the past duration of the present course of things is 
finite, but that it is short, compared with such periods 
as we have had to speak of. But we may observe, that 
the doctrine of a resisting medium once established, 
makes this imagination untenable ; compels us to go 
back to the origm, not only of the |)resent course of 
the world, not only of the earth, but of the solar system 
itself; and thus sets us forth upon that path of research 
into the series of past causation, where we obtain no 



RESISTING MEDIUM. 



179 



answer of wliich the meaning corresponds to our 
questions, till we rest in the conclusion of a most 
provident and most powerful Creating Intelligence. 

It is related of Epicurus that when a boy, reading 
with his preceptor these verses of Hesiod, 

Hto: i-l^v TrpcoTis-a Xaos ysveT% avrap eTretra 

Eldest of beings, Chaos first arose, 

Thence Earth wide stretched, the steadfast seat of all 

The Immortals, 

the young scholar first betrayed his inquisitive genius 
by asking " And chaos whence ? " When in his riper 
years he had persuaded himself that this question was 
sufficiently answered by saying that chaos arose from 
the concourse of atoms, it is strange that the same 
inquisitive spirit did not again suggest the question 
" and atoms whence ? " And it is clear that however 
often the question " whence ?" had been answered, it 
would still start up as at first. Nor could it sufiice as 
an answer to say, that earth, chaos, atoms, were portions 
of a series of changes which went back to eternity. 
The preceptor of Epicurus informed him, that to be 
satisfied on the subject of his inquiry, he must have 
recourse to the philosophers. If the young speculator 
had been told that chaos (if chaos indeed preceded 
the present order) was produced by an Eternal Being, 
in whom resided purpose and will, he would have re- 
ceived a suggestion which, duly matured by subsequent 

N 2 



180 



COSMIC AL ARRANGEMENTS. 



contemplation, might have led him to a philosophy far 
more satisfactory than the material scheme can ever 
he, to one who looks, either abroad into the universe, 
or within into his own bosom. 

ChxIP, IX. — Mechanical Laws. 

In the preceding observations we have supposed the 
laws, by which different kinds of matter act and are 
acted upon, to be alread}^ in existence ; and have 
endeavoured to point out evidences of design and 
adaptation, displayed in the selection and arrangement 
of these materials of the universe. These materials 
are, it has appeared, supplied in such measures and 
disposed in such forms, that by means of their proper- 
ties and laws the business of the world goes on 
harmoniously and beneficially. But a further question 
occurs : how came matter to have such properties and 
laws ? Are these also to be considered as things of 
selection and institution ? And if so, can we trace 
the reasons wli}^ the laws were established in their 
present form ; why the properties which matter actually 
possesses were established and bestowed upon it ? We 
have already attempted, in a jDrevious part of this work, 
to point out some of the advantages which are secured 
by the existing laws of heat, light, and moisture : can 
we, in the same manner, point out the benefits which 
arise from the present constitution of those laws of 
matter which are mainly concerned in the production 
of cosmical phenomena ? 

It will readity be perceived that the discussion of this 



MECHANICAL LAWS. 



181 



point must necessarily require some effort of abstract 
thought. The laws and properties of which we have 
here to speak — the law^s of motion and the universal 
properties of matter — are so closely interwoven with 
our conce]3tions of the external w^orld, that we have 
great difficulty in conceiving them not to exist, or to 
exist other than they are. When we press or lift a 
stone, we can hardly imagine that it could, by possi- 
bility, do otherwise than resist our effort by its hardness 
and by its heaviness, qualities so familiar to us: w^hen 
we throw it, it seems inevitable that its motion should 
depend on the impulse we give, just as we find that it 
invariably does. 

Nor is it easy to say lioiv far it is realty j)ossible to 
suppose the fundamental attributes of matter to be 
different from what they are. If we, in our thoughts, 
attempt to divest matter of its powers of resisting and 
moving, it ceases to be matter, according to our con- 
ceptions, and we can no longer reason upon it with any 
distinctness. And yet it is certain that we can conceive 
the laws of hardness and weight and motion to be quite 
different from what they are, and can point out some 
of the consequences which would result from such 
difference. The properties of matter, even the most 
fundamental and universal ones, do not obtain by any 
absolute necessity, resembling that which belongs to 
the properties of geometry. A line touching a circle, 
is necessarily perpendicular to a line drawn to the 
centre through the point touched ; for it may be 
shown that the contrary involves a contradiction : but 
there is no contradiction in supposing that a body's 



182 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



motion should naturally diminisli, or that its weight 
should increase in removing further from the earth's 
centre. 

Thus the properties of matter and the laws of motion 
are what we find them, not b}^ virtue of any internal 
necessity which we can understand. The study of such 
laws and properties may therefore disclose to us the 
character of that external agency by which we conceive 
them to have been determined to be what they are ; 
and this must be the same agency by which all other 
parts of the constitution of the universe were appointed 
and ordered. 

But we can hardly expect, with regard to such 
subjects, that we shall be able to obtain any complete 
or adequate view of the reasons why these general 
laws are so selected, and so established. These laws 
are the universal basis of all operations which go on, 
at any moment, in every part of space, with regard to 
every particle of matter, organic and inorganic. All 
other laws and properties must have a reference to 
these, and must be influenced by them ; both such as 
men have already discovered, and the far greater 
number which remain still unknown. The general 
economy and mutual relations of all parts of the 
universe must be subordinate to the laws of motion 
and matter of which we here speak. We can easily 
suppose that the various processes of nature, and the 
dependencies of various creatures, are affected in the 
most comprehensive manner by these laws ; — are 
simplified by their simplicity, made consistent by their 
universality ; rendered regular by their symmetry. 



MECHANICxiL LAWS. 



183 



We can easily 'suppose that in this way there may be 
the most profound and admirable reasons for the exist- 
ence of the present universal properties of matter, 
which we cannot apprehend in consequence of the 
limited nature of our knowledge, and of our faculties. 
For, though our knowledge on certain subjects, and to 
a certain extent is positive and clear, compared with 
the whole extent of the universe, the whole aggregate 
of things and relations and connexions which exist, 
it is most narrow and partial, most shallow and super- 
ficial. We cannot suppose, therefore, that the reasons 
which we discover for the present form of the laws of 
nature go nearly to the full extent, or to the bottom of 
the reasons, which a more complete and profound 
insight would enable us to perceive. To do justice to' 
such reasons, would require nothing less than a perfect 
acquaintance with the whole constitution of every part 
of creation ; a knowledge which man has not, and, so 
far as we can conceive, never can have. 

We are certain, therefore, that our views, with regard 
to this part of our subject, must be imperfect and 
limited. Yet still man has some knowledge with 
regard to various portions of nature ; and with regard 
to those most general and comparatively simple facts 
to which we now refer, his knowledge is more compre- 
hensive, and goes deeper than it does in any other 
province. We conceive, therefore, that we shall not be 
engaged in any rash or presumptuous attempt, if we 
endeavour to point out some of the advantages which 
are secured by the present constitution of some of the 
general mechanical laws of nature ; and to suggest the 



184i 



COSMICAL AEEANGEMENTS. 



persuasion of that purpose and wise design, which the 
selection of such laws will thus appear to imply. 

Chap. X. — The Law of Gravitation. 

We shall proceed to make a few observations on the 
Law of Gravit}^, in virtue of which the motions of 
planets about the sun, and of satellites about their 
planets take place ; and by which also are produced 
the fall downwards of all bodies within our reach, and 
the pressure which they exert upon their supports 
when at rest. The identification of the latter forces 
with the former, and the discovery of the single law by 
which these forces are every where regulated, was the 
great discovery of Newton : and we wish to make it 
appear that this law is established by an intelligent and 
comprehensive selection. 

The law of the sun's attraction upon the planets is, 
that this attraction varies inversely as the square of 
the distance ; that is, it decreases as that square in- 
creases. If we take three points or planets of the solar 
system, the distances of which from the sun are in the 
proportion, 1, 2, 3 ; the attractive force which the sun 
at these distances exercises, is as 1, l-4th, and l-9th 
respectively. In the smaller variations of distance 
which occur in the elliptical motion of one planet, the 
variations of the force follow the same law. Moreover, 
not only does the sun attract the planets, but they 
attract each other according to the same law ; the ten- 
dency to the earth which makes bodies heavy, is one of 
the effects of this law: and all these effects of the 



LAW OF GRAVITATION. 185 

attractions of large masses may be traced to tlie 
attractions of the particles of which they are composed; 
so that the final generalisation, including all the deri- 
vative laws, is, that every particle of matter in the 
universe attracts every other, accordmg to the law of 
the inverse square of the distance. 

Such is the law of universal gravitation. Now, the 
question is, why do either the attractions of masses, or 
those of their component particles, follow this law of 
the inverse square of the distance rather than any 
other ? When the distance becomes 1, 2, and 3, why 
should not the force also become 1, 2, and 3 ? — or if it 
must be weaker at points more remote from the attract- 
ing body, why should it not be 1, a half, a third ? or 1, 
l-8th, l-27th ? Such laws could easily be expressed 
mathematically, and their consequences calculated. 
Can any reason be assigned why the law which we find 
in operation must obtain ? Can any be assigned why 
it should obtain ? 

The answer to this is, that no reason, at all satisfac- 
tory, can be given why such a law must, of necessity, 
be what it is; but that very strong reasons can be 
pointed out why, for the beauty and advantage of the 
system, the present one is better than others. We will 
point out some of these reasons. 

I. In the first place, the system could not have sub- 
sisted, if the force had followed a direct instead of an 
inverse law, with respect to the distance : that is, if it 
had increased when the distance increased. It has been 
sometimes said, that " all direct laws of force are ex- 
cluded on account of the danger from perturbing 



186 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS . 



forces ; " that if the planets had pulled at this earth, 
the harder the further off they were, they would have 
dragged it entirely out of its course. This is not an 
exact statement of what would happen : if the force 
were to he simply in the direct ratio of the distance, 
any number of planets might revolve in the most 
regular and orderly manner. Their mutual effects, 
which we may call perturbations if we please, would be 
considerable ; but these perturbations would be so com- 
bined with the unperturbed motion, as to produce a new 
motion not less regular than the other. This curious 
result would follow, that every body in the system would 
describe, or seem to describe, about every other, an exact 
elliptical orbit ; and that the times of the revolution of 
every body in its orbit would be all equal. This is 
proved by Newton, in the 64th proposition of the 
Principia. There Avould be nothing to prevent all the 
planets, on this supposition, from moving round the 
sun in orbits exactly circular, or nearly circular, accord- 
ing to the mode in which they were set in motion. 

But though the perturbations of the system would 
not make this law inadmissible, there are other circum- 
stances which would do so. Under this law, the gravity 
of bodies at the earth's surface would cease to exist. 
Nothing would fall or weigh downwards. The greater 
action of the distant sun and planets would exactly 
neutralise the gravity of the earth : a ball thrown from 
the hand, however gently, would immediately become a 
satellite of the earth, and would for the future accom- 
pany it in its course, revolving about it in the space of 

* Paley. 



LAW OF GRAVITATION. 



187 



one year. All terrestrial things would float about with 
no principle of coherence or stability : they would obey 
the general law of the system, but would acknowledge 
no particular relation to the earth. We can hardly 
pretend to judge of the abstract possibility of such a 
system of things ; but it is clear that it could not exist 
without an utter subversion of all that we can conceive 
of the economy and structure of the world which we 
inhabit. 

With any other direct law of force, we should in 
like manner lose gravity, without gaining the theoretical 
regularity of the planetary motions which we have 
described in the case just considered. 

II. Among inverse laws of the distance, (that is, those 
according to which the force diminishes as the distance ' 
from the origin of force increases,) all which diminish 
the central force faster than the cube of the distance 
increases are inadmissible, because they are incom- 
patible with the permanent revolution of a planet. 
Under such laws it would follow, that a planet would 
describe a spiral line about the sun, and would either 
approach nearer and nearer to him perpetually, or per- 
petually go further and further off : nearly as a stone 
at the end of a string, when the string is whirled 
round, and is allowed to wrap round the hand, or to 
unwrap from it, approaches to or recedes from the 
hand. 

If we endeavour to compare the law of the inverse 
square of the distance, which really regulates the cen^ 
tral force, with other laws, not ob\dously inadmissible, 
as for instance, the inverse simple ratio of the distance, 



188 



COSMICAL AllRAKGEMENTS. 



a considerable quantity of calculation is found to be 
necessary in order to trace the results, and especially 
the perturbations in the two cases. The perturbations, 
in the supposed case, have not been calculated ; such 
a calculation being a process so long and laborious 
that it is never gone through, except for the purpose of 
comparing the results of theory with those of observa- 
tion, as we can do with regard to the law of the inverse 
square. We can only say, therefore, that the stabilit}^ 
of the system, and the moderate limits of the perturba- 
tions, which we know to be secured by the existing 
law, would not, so far as we know, be obtained by any 
different law. 

Without going into further examination of the sub- 
ject, we may observe that there are some circumstances 
in which the present system has a manifest superiority 
in simplicity over the condition which would have 
belonged to it if the force had followed any other law. 
Thus, with the present law of gravitation, the planets 
revolve, returning perpetually on the same track, very 
nearly. The earth describes an oval, in consequence 
of which motion she is nearer to the sun in our winter 
than in our summer by about one -thirtieth part of the 
whole distance. And, as the matter now is, the nearest 
approach to the sun, and the farthest recess from him, 
occur always at the same points of the orbit. There is 
mdeed a slight alteration in these points, arising from 
disturbing forces, but this is hardly sensible in the 
course of several ages. Now if the force had followed 
any other law, we should have had the earth running 
perpetually on a new track. The greatest and least 



LAW OF GRAVITATION. 



189 



distances would have occurred at different parts in 
every successive revolution. The orbit wmild have 
perpetually intersected and been interlaced with the 
path described in former revolutions ; and the simplicity 
and regularity which characterises the present motion 
would have been quite wanting. 

III. Another peculiar point of simplicity in the present 
law of mutual attraction is this : that it makes the law 
of attraction for spherical masses the same as for single 
particles. If particles attract with forces which are 
inversely as the square of the distance, spheres com- 
posed of such particles will exert a force which follows 
the same law. In this character the present law is 
singular, among all possible laws, excepting that of the 
direct distance which we have already discussed. If 
the law of the gravitation of particles had been that of 
the inverse simple distance, the attraction of a sphere 
would have been expressed by a complex series of 
mathematical expressions, each representing a simple 
law. It is truly remarkable that the law of the inverse 
square of the distance, which appears to be selected as 
that of the masses of the system, and of which the 
mechanism is, that it arises from the action of the 
particles of the system, should lead us to the same law 
for the action of these particles : there is a striking 
prerogative of simplicity in the law thus adopted. 

The law of gravitation actually prevailing in the 
solar system has thus great and clear advantages over 
any law widely different from it : and has moreover, in 
many of its consequences, a simplicity which belongs 
to this precise law alone. It is in many such respects 



190 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



a unique law : and when we consider that it possesses 
several jproperties which are ijecidiar to it, and several 
advantages which, so far as we can see, may be peculiar 
to it, and which are certainly nearly so ; we have some 
ground, it would appear, to look upon its peculiarities 
and its advantages as connected. For the reasons 
mentioned in the last chapter, we can hardly expect to 
discern fully the way in which the system is benefited 
by the simplicity of this law, and by the mathematical 
elegance of its consequences : but when we see that it 
has some such beauties, and some manifest benefits, we 
may easily suppose that our ignorance and limited capa- 
city alone prevent our perceiving that there are, for the 
selection of this law of force, reasons of a far more 
refined and comprehensive kind than those which we 
can distinctly apprehend. 

IV. But before quitting this subject we may offer a 
few further observations on the question, whether gravi- 
tation and the law of gravitation be necessary attributes 
of matter. We have spoken of the selection of this 
law ; but is it selected ? Could it have been otherwise ? 
Is not the force of attraction a necessary consequence 
of the fundamental properties of matter ? 

This is a question which has been much agitated 
among the followers of Newton. Some have main- 
tained, as Cotes, that gravity is an inherent property of 
all matter ; others, with Newton himself, have consi- 
dered it as an appendage to the essential qualities of 
matter, and have proposed hypotheses to account for 
the mode in which its effects are produced. 

The result of all that can be said on the subject 



LAW OF GRAVITATIOIS'. 



191 



appears to be this : that no one can demonstrate the 
possibility of deducing gravity from the acknowledged 
fundamental properties of matter : and that no philo- 
sopher asserts, that matter has been found to exist, 
which was destitute of gravity. It is a property which 
we have no right to call necessary to matter, but every 
reason to suppose universal. 

If we could show gravity to be a necessary conse- 
quence of those properties which we adopt as essential 
to our notion of matter, (extension, sohdity, mobility, 
inertia,) we might then call it also one of the essential 
properties. But no one probably will assert that this 
is the case. Its universality is a fact of observation 
merely. How then came a property, — in its existence 
so needful for the support of the universe, in its laws 
so well adapted to the purposes of creation, — how came 
it to be thus universal? Its being found everywhere 
is necessary for its uses ; but this is so far from being 
a sufficient explanation of its existence, that it is an 
additional fact to be explained. We have here, then, 
an agency, most simple in its rule, most comprehensive 
in its influence, most effectual and admirable in its 
operation. What evidence could be afforded of design, 
by laws of mechanical action, which this law thus exist- 
ing and thus operating does not afford us ? 

V. It is not necessary for our purpose to consider 
the theories which have been proposed to account for 
the action of gravity. They have proceeded on the 
plan of reducing this action to the result of pressure or 
impulse. Even if such theories could be established, 
they could not much, or at ail, affect our argument ; 



192 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



for the arrangements by which pressure or impact 
coukl produce the effects which gravity produces, must 
be at least as clearly results of contrivance, as gravity 
itself can be. 

In fact, however, none of these attempts can be consi- 
dered as at all successful. That of Newton is very 
remarkable : it is found among the Queries in the 
second edition of his Optics. " To show," he says, 
" that I do not take gravity for an essential property of 
bodies, I have added one question concerning its cause, 
choosing to propose it by way of question, because I am 
not 3^et satisfied about it for want of experiments." The 
hjrpothesis which he thus suggests is, that there is an 
elastic medium pervading all space, and increasing in 
elasticity as we proceed from dense bodies outwards : 
that this " causes the gravity of such dense bodies to 
each other : every body endeavouring to go from the 
denser parts of the medium towards the rarer." Of 
this hypothesis we may venture to say, that it is in the 
first place quite gratuitous ; we cannot trace in any 
other phenomena a medium possessing these proper- 
ties : and in the next place, tliat the hypothesis contains 
several suppositions which are more complex than the 
fact to be explained, and none which are less so. Can 
we, on Newton's principles, conceive an elastic medium 
otherwise than as a collection of j)articles, repelhng 
each other ? and is the repulsion of such particles a 
simpler fact than the attraction of those which gravitate ? 
And when we suppose that the medium becomes more 
elastic as we proceed from each attracting body, what 
cause can we conceive capable of keeping it in such a 



LA^ OF GRAVITATION^. 



]93 



Q, except a repulsive force emanating from the 
elf : a supposition at least as much requiring 
30unted for, as the attraction of the body. It 
t appear, then, that this hypothesis v>^ill hear 
examination ; although, for our purpose, the argument 
would be rather strengthened than weakened, if it could 
be estabhshed. 

VI. Another theory of the cause of gravity, wliich at 
one time excited considerable notice, was that originally 
proposed by M. Le Sage, in a memoir entitled, " Lucrece 
Newtonien," and further illustrated by M. Prevost ; 
according to which, all space is occupied by currents of 
matter, moving perpetually in straight lines, in all 
directions, with a vast velocity, and penetrating all 
bodies. When two bodies are near each other, they 
intercept the current which would flow in the inter- 
mediate space if they were not there, and thus receive 
a tendency towards each other from the pressure of the 
currents on their farther sides. Without examining* 
further this curious and ingenious hypothesis, we may 
make upon it the same kind of observations as before ; 
— that it is perfectly gratuitous, except as a means of 
explaming the phenomena ; and that, if it were proved, 
it would still remain to be shown what necessity has 
caused the existence of these tivo kinds of matter ; the 
first kind being tliat which is commonly called matter^ 
and which alone affects our senses, while it is inert as 
to any tendency to motion ; the second kind being 
something imperceptible to our senses, except by the 
effects it produces on matter of the former kind ; yet 
exerting an impulse on every material body, permeating 





194 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



every portion of common matter, flowing with incon- 
ceivable velocity, in inexhaustible abundance, from 
every part of the abyss of infinity on one side, to the 
opposite part of the same abyss ; and so constituted 
that through all eternity it can never bend its path, or 
return, or tarry in its course. 

If we were to accept this theory, it would little or 
nothing diminish our wonder at the structure of the 
universe. We might well continue to admire the evi- 
dence of contrivaDce, if such a machinery should be 
found to produce all the effects which flow from the 
law of gravitation. 

VII. The law of the force of gravity, which we have 
explained in the beginning of this chapter, namely, 
that the attraction between all bodies varies inversely 
as the square of their distance from each other, has 
often been a subject of discussion, with reference to the 
reasons why it is so rather than otherwise. The argu- 
ments for and against the assertion that this is the 
necessary and inevitable law of such a force, were can- 
vassed with great animation about the middle of the 
last century. 

Newton and other astronomers had found that the 
line of the moon's ai^sides (that is, of her greatest and 
least distances from the earth) moves round to different 
parts of the heavens with a velocit}^ twice as great as 
that which the calculation from the law of gravitation 
seems at first sight to give. According to the theory, 
it appeared that this line ought to move round once in 
eighteen years ; according to observation, it moves 
round once in nine years. This difference, the only 



LAW OP GRAVITATION. 195 

obvious failure of the theory of gravitation, embarrassed 
mathematicians exceedingly. It is true, it was subse- 
quently discovered that the apparent discrepancy arose 
from a mistake ; the calculation, which is long and 
laborious, was supposed to have been carried far enough 
to get close to the truth ; but it appeared afterwards 
that the residue which had been left out as insignificant, 
produced, by an unexpected turn in the reckoning, an 
effect as large as that which had been taken for the 
whole. But this discovery was not made till a later 
period ; and in the mean time the law of the inverse 
square appeared to be at fault. Clairault tried to 
remedy the defect by supposing that the force of the 
earth's gravity consisted of a large force varying in- 
versely as the square of the distance, and a very small 
force varying inversely as the fourth power (the square 
of the square). By such a supposition, observation and 
theory could be reconciled ; but on the suggestion of it, 
Buffon came forward with the assertion that the force 
could not YBTj according to any other law than the in- 
verse square. His arguments are rather metaphysical 
than physical or mathematical. Gravity, he urges, is a 
quality, an emanation ; and all emanations are inversely 
as the square of the distance, as light, odours. To this 
Clau-ault replies by asking how we knov/ that light and 
odours have their intensity inversely as the square of 
the distance from their origin : not, he observes, by mea- 
suring the intensity, but by supposing these effects to be 
material emanations. But who, he asks, supposes gra- 
vity to be a material emanation from the attracting body. 
Buffon again pleads that so many facts prove the 

o 2 



196 



COSMICAL AEllANGEMEJJTS. 



law of the inverse square, that a single one, wliich 
occurs to interfere with this agreement, must he in 
some manner capahle of being explained away. 
Clairault replies, that the facts do not prove this law 
to obtain exactly ; that small effects, of the same order 
as the one under discussion, have been neglected in 
the supposed proof; and that therefore the law is only 
known to be true, as/aras such an approximation goes, 
and no farther. 

Buffon then argues, that there can be no such addi- 
tional fraction of the force, following a different law, as 
Clau-ault supposes : for what, he asks, is there to 
determine the magnitude of the fraction to one amount 
rather than another ? why should nature select for it 
any particular magnitude ? To this it is replied, that, 
whether we can explain the fact or not, nature does 
select certain magnitudes in preference to others ; that 
where we ascertain she does this, we are not to deny 
the fact because we cannot assign the grounds of her 
preference. What is there, it is asked, to determine 
the magnitude of the whole force at any fixed distance? 
"We cannot tell ; yet the force is of a certain definite 
intensity and no other. 

Finally Clairault observes, that we have, in cohesion, 
capillary attraction, and various other cases, examples 
of forces varying according to other laws than the in- 
verse square ; and that therefore this cannot be the 
only j)0ssible law. 

The discrepancy between observation and theory 
which gave rise to this controversy was removed, as has 
been akeady stated, by a more exact calculation : and 



LAW OF GEAVITATION. 



197 



tlius, as Laplace observes, in tliis case the metaphy- 
sician turned out to be right and the mathematician to 
be wrong. But most persons, probabl}^ who are 
familiar with such trains of speculation, will allow, that 
Clairault had the best of the argument, and that the 
attempts to show the law of gravitation to be neces- 
sarily what it is, are fallacious and unsound. 

VIII. We may observe, however, that the law of 
gravitation according to the inverse square of the dis- 
tance, which thus regulates the motions of the solar 
system, is not confined to that province of the universe, 
as has been shown by recent researches. It appears 
by the observations and calculations of Sir John 
Herschel, that several of the stars, called double stars, 
consist of a pair of luminous bodies which revolve 
about each other in ellipses, in such a manner as to 
show that the force, by which they are attracted to 
each other, varies according to the law of the inverse 
square. We thus learn a remarkable fact concerning 
bodies which seemed so far removed from us that no 
effort of our science could reach them ; and we find 
that the same law of mutual attraction which we have 
before traced to the farthest bounds of the solar system, 
prevails also in spaces at a distance compared with 
which the orbit of Saturn shrinks into a point. The 
establishment of such a truth certainly suggests, as 
highly probable, the prevalence of this law among all 
the bodies of the universe. And we may therefore 
suppose, that the same ordinance which gave to the 
parts of our system that rule by which they fulfil the 
purposes of their creation, impressed the same rule on 



198 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



the other portions of matter which are scattered in the 
most remote parts of the universe ; and thus gave to 
their movements the same grounds of simplicity and 
harmony which we find reason to admire, as far as we 
can acquire any knowledge of our own more immediate 
neighbourhood. 

Chap. XI. — Tlie Latus of Motion. 

We shall now make a few remarks on the general 
Laws of Motion by which all mechanical effects take 
place. Are we to consider these as instituted laws ? 
And if so, can we point out any of the reasons which 
we may suppose to have led to the selection of those 
laws which really exist ? 

The observations formerly made concerning the 
inevitable narrowness and imperfection of our conclu- 
sions on such subjects, apply here, even more strongly 
than in the case of the law of gravitation. We can 
hardly conceive matter divested of these laws ; and we 
cannot perceive or trace a millionth part of the effects 
which they produce. We cannot, therefore, expect to 
go far in pointing out the essential advantages of these 
laws such as they now obtain. 

It would be easy to show that the fundamental laws 
of motion, in whatever form we state them, possess a 
very pre-eminent simplicity, compared with almost all 
others, which we might imagine as existing. This 
simplicity has indeed produced an effect on men's minds 
which, though delusive, appears to be very natural ; 
several writers have treated these laws as self-evident, and 



THE LAWS OP MOTION. 



199 



necessarily flowing from the nature of our conceptions. 
We conceive that this is an erroneous view, and that 
these laws are Imown to us to he what they are, hy 
experience only; that the laws of motion might, 
so far as we can discern, have heen any others. 
They appear therefore to he selected for their fitness 
to answer their purposes; and we may, perhaps, he 
ahle to point out some instances in which this fitness is 
apparent to us. 

Newton, and many English philosophers, teach the 
existence of three separate fundamental laws of motion, 
while most of the eminent mathematicians of France 
reduce these to tivo, the law of inertia and the law that 
force is proportional to velocity. As an example of 
the views which we wish to illustrate, we may take the 
law of inertia, which is identical with Newton's first 
Law of Motion. This law asserts, that a hody at 
rest continues at rest, and that a body in motion goes 
on moving with its velocity and direction unchanged, 
except so far as it is acted on by extraneous forces.* 

We conceive that this law^, simple and universal as 
it is, cannot be shown to be necessarily true. It might 
be difficult to discuss this point in general terms with 
any clearness ; but let us take the only example which 

* If tlie laws of motion are stated as three, which we conceive to be 
the true view of the subject^ the other two, as applied in mechanical 
reasonings, are the following : — 

Second Law. When a force acts on a body in motion, it produces the 
same effect as if the same force acted on a body at rest. 

Third Law. When a force of the nature of pressure produces motion, 
the velocity produced is proportional to the force, other things being 
equal. 



200 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



we know of a motion absolutely uniform, in conse- 
quence of the absence of any force to accelerate or 
retard it ; — tliis motion is the rotation of the earth on 
its axis. 

I. It is scarcely possible that discussions on such 
subjects should not have a repulsive and scholastic 
aspect, and appear like disputes about words rather than 
things. For mechanical writers have exercised all 
their ingenuity so to circumscribe their notions and so 
to define their terms, that these fundamental truths 
should be expressed in the simplest manner : the con- 
sequence of which has been, that they have been made 
to assume the appearance rather of identical assertions 
than of general facts of experience. But in order to 
■avoid tliis inconvenience, as far as may be, we take the 
first laiv of motion as exemplified in a particular case, 
the rotation of the earth. Of all the motions with 
wdiich we are acquainted, this alone is invariable. Each 
day, measm-ed by the passages of the stars, is so pre- 
cisely of the same length, that, according to Laplace's 
calculations, it is impossible that a difference of one 
hundredth of a second of time should have obtained 
between the length of the day in the earliest ages and 
at the present time. Now why is this ? How is this 
very remarkable uniformity preserved in this particular 
phenomenon, while all the other motions of the system 
are subject to inequahties ? How is it that in the celestial 
machine no retardation takes place by the lapse of 
time, as would be the case in any machine which it 
would be possible for human powers to construct? 
The answer is, that in the earth's revolution on her 



THE LAWS OF MOTION. 



201 



axis no cause operates to retard the speed, like the 
imperfection of materials, the friction of supports, the 
resistance of the ambient medium ; * impediments 
which cannot, in any human mechanism, however perfect, 
be completely annihilated. But here we are led to ask 
again, why should the speed continue the same when 
not affected by an extraneous cause ? why should it not 
languish and decay of itself by the mere lapse of time ? 
That it might do so, involves no contradiction, for it 
was the common, though erroneous, belief of all mecha- 
nical speculators, to the time of Galileo. We can 
conceive velocity to diminish in proceeding from a 
certain point of time, as easily as we can conceive force 
to diminish in proceedmg from a certain point of space, 
which in attractive forces really occurs. But, it is 
sometimes said, the motion (that is the velocity) must 
continue the same from one instant to another, for 
there is nothing to change it. This aj)pears to be 
taking refuge in words. We may call the velocity, that 
is the speed of a body, its motion ; but we cannot, by 
giving it this name, make it a thing which has any 
u jpviori claim to permanence, much less any self- 
evident constancy. Why must the speed of a body, 
left to itself, continue the same, any more than its 

* It lias already beeu stated that the resisting medium spoken of in 
Chapter VIII. of this Book has not yet produced any effect which can 
be detected in the motion of the earth. Probably the effect of this 
medium upon the rotation of the earth would be extremely small com- 
pared with its effect on the earth's motion in her orbit ; and yet this 
latter effect bears no discoverable proportion to the effect of the smallest 
perturbing forces of the other planets. 



202 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



temperature. Hot bodies grow cooler when left to 
themselves; why should not quick bodies go slower when 
left to themselves ? AVhy must a body describe 1000 
feet in the next second because it has described 1000 
feet in the last ? Nothing but experience, under 
proper circumstances, can inform us whether bodies, 
abstracting from external agency, do move according 
to such a rule. We find that they do so : we learn 
that all diminution of their speed which ever takes 
place, can be traced to external causes. Contrary to 
all that men had guessed, motion appears to be of 
itself endless and unwearied. In order to account for 
the unalterable permanence of the length of our day, 
all that is requisite is to show that there is no let or 
hindrance in the way of the earth's rotation; — no 
resisting medium or alteration of size — she " spinning 
sleeps " on her axle, as the poet expresses it, and may 
go on sleeping with the same regularity for ever, so 
far as the experimental properties of motion are con- 
cerned. 

Such is the necessary consequence of the first law of 
motion ; but the law itseK has no necessary existence, 
so far as Ave can see. It was discovered only after 
various perplexities and false conjectures of speculators 
on mechanics. We have learnt that it is so, but we 
have not learnt, nor can any one undertake to teach us, 
that it must have been so. For aught we can tell, it is 
one among a thousand equally possible laws, which 
might have regulated the motions of bodies. 

II. But though we have thus no reason to consider 
this as the only possible law, we have good reason to 



THE LAWS OF MOTION. 



203 



consider it as the best, or at least as iDossessing all that 
we can conceive of advantage. It is the simplest con- 
ceivable of such laws. If the velocity had been com- 
pelled to change with the time, there must have been a 
law of the change, and the kind and amount of this 
change must have been determined by its dependence 
on the time and other conditions. Tliis, though quite 
supposable, would undoubtedly have been more complex 
than the present state of things. And though com- 
plexity does not appear to embarrass the operation of 
the laws of natm^e, and is admitted, without scruple, 
when there is reason for it, simplicity is the usual 
character of such laws, and appears to have been a 
ground of selection in the formation of the universe, 
as it is a mark of beauty to us in our contemplation 
of it. 

But there is a still stronger apparent reason for the 
selection of this law of the preservation of motion. If 
the case had been otherwise, the universe must neces- 
sarily in the course of ages have been reduced to a 
state of rest, or at least to a state not sensibly differing 
from it. If the earth's motion, round its axis, had 
slackened by a very small quantity, for instance, by a 
hundredth of a second in a revolution, and in this 
proportion contmued, the day would have been already 
lengthened by six hom's in the 6000 years vfhich have 
elapsed since the history of the world began ; and if we 
suppose a longer period to precede or to follow, the day 
might be increased to a month or to any length. All 
the adaptations which depend on the length of the day, 
would consequently be deranged. But this would not 



204 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



be all ; for tlie same law of motion is equally requisite 
for the preservation of tlie annual motion of the earth. 
If her motion were retarded by the establishment of 
any other law instead of the existing one, she would 
wheel nearer and nearer to the sun at every revolution, 
and at last reach the centre, hke a falling hoop. The 
same would happen to the other planets ; and the whole 
solar system would, in the course of a certain period, 
be gathered into a heap of matter without life or 
motion. In the present state of things on the other 
hand, the system, as we have already explained, is, by 
a combination of remarkable provisions, calculated for 
an almost indefinite existence, of undiminished fitness 
for its purposes. 

There are, therefore, manifest reasons, why, of all 
laws which could occupy the place of the first law of 
motion, the one which now obtains is the only one 
consistent witli the durability and uniformity of the 
system ; — the one, therefore, which we may naturally 
conceive to be selected by a wise contriver. And as, 
along with this, it has appeared that we have no sort of 
right to attribute the establishment of this law to any- 
thmg but selection, we have here a striking evidence of 
design, suited to lead us to a perception of that Divine 
mind, by which means so simple are made to answer 
purposes so extensive and so beneficial. 



PEICTIOX. 



205 



Chap. XII. — Friction.^ 

We sliall not pursue this argument of the last chapter, 
by considering the other laws of motion in the same 
manner as we have there considered the first, which 
might be done. But the facts which form exceptions 
and apparent contradictions to the first law of which 
we have been treating, and which are very numerous, 
offer, we conceive, an additional exempUfication of 
the same argument; and this we shall endeavour to 
illustrate. 

The rule that a body natui^ally moves for ever with 
an undiminished speed, is so far from bemg obviously 
true, that it appears on a first examination to be mani- 
festly false. The hoop of the school-boy, left to itself, 
runs on a short distance, and then stops ; his top spins 
a little while, but finally flags and falls ; all motion on 
the earth appears to decay by its own nature ; all 
matter which we move appears to have a perpetual 
tendency to divest itself of the velocity which we com- 
municate to it. How is this reconcilable with the first 
law of motion on which we have been insisting ? 

It is reconciled principally by considering the effect 
of Friction. Among terrestrial objects friction exerts 
an agency almost as universal and constant as the laws 

* Though Friction is not obviously concerned in any cosmical 
phenomena, we have thought this the proper place to introduce the 
consideration of it ; since the contrast between the cases in which it 
does act; and those in which it does not, is best illustrated by a com- 
parison of cosmical with terrestrial motions. 



206 



COSMICAL AEEANGEMENTS. 



of motion themselves ; an agency which completely 
changes and disguises the results of those laws. We 
shall consider some of these effects. 

It is probably not necessary to explain at any length 
the nature and operation of friction. When a body 
cannot move without causing two surfaces to rub toge- 
ther, this rubbing has a tendency to diminish the body's 
motion or to prevent it entirely. If the body of a car- 
riage be placed on the earth without the wheels, a 
considerable force will be requisite in order to move 
it at all : it is here the friction against the ground 
which obstructs the motion. If the carriage be placed 
on its wheels, a much less force will move it, but if 
moved it will soon stop : it is the friction at the ground 
and at the axles which stops it : placed on a level rail- 
road, with well made and well oiled wheels, and once 
put in motion, it might run a considerable distance 
alone, for the friction is here much less ; but there is 
friction, and therefore the motion would after a time 
cease. 

The same kmd of action between the surfaces of two 
bodies which retards and stops their motions when 
they move touching each other, will also prevent their 
moving at all, if the force which urges them into 
motion be insufficient to overcome the resistance which 
the contact of the surfaces produces. Friction, as 
writers on mechanics use the term, exists not only 
when the surfaces rub against each other, but also 
when the state of tilings is such that they would rub if 
they did move. It is a force which is called into 
action by a tendency to move, and which forbids 



FRICTION. 



307 



motion ; it may be likened to a chain of a certain 
force wMcli binds bodies in their places ; and we may 
push or pull the bodies without moving them, except 
we exert a sufficient force to break this imaginary 
chain. 

I. The friction which we shall principally consider 
is the friction which prevents motion. So employed, 
friction is one of the most universal and important 
agents in the mechanism of our daily comforts and 
occupations. It is a force which is called into play 
to an extent incomparably greater than all the other 
forces with which we are concerned in the course of our 
daily life. We are dependent upon it at every instant 
and in every action : and it is not possible to enumerate 
all the ways in which it serves us ; scarcely even to 
suggest a sufficient number of them to give us a true 
notion of its functions. 

What can appear more simple operations than 
standing and walking ? yet it is easy to see that without 
the aid of friction these simple actions would scarcely 
be possible. Every one knows how difficult and dan- 
gerous they are when performed on smooth ice. In such 
a situation we cannot always succeed in standing : if the 
ice be very smooth, it is by no means easy to walk, 
even when the surface is perfectly level ; and if it were 
ever so little inclined, no one would make the attempt. 
Yet walldng on the ice and on the ground differ only 
in our experiencing more friction in the latter case. 
We say more, for there is a considerable friction even 
in the case of ice, as we see by the small distance which 
a stone slides when thrown along the surface. It is 



208 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



this friction of the earth which, at every step we take, 
prevents the foot from shding back ; and thus allows 
us to push the body and the other foot forwards. And 
when we come to violent bodily motions, to running, 
leaping, pulling or pushing objects, it is easily seen how 
entirely we depend upon the friction of the ground for 
our strength and force. Every one knows how com- 
pletely powerless we become in any of these actions by 
the foot slipping. 

In the same manner it is the friction of objects to 
which the hand is applied, which enables us to hold 
them with any degree of firmness. In some contests 
it was formerly the custom for the combatants to rub 
their bodies with oil, that the adversary might not be 
able to keep his grasp. If the pole of the boatman, 
the rope of the sailor, were thus smooth and lubricated, 
how weak would be the thrust and the pull ! Yet this 
would only be the removal of friction. 

Our buildings are no less dependent on this force 
for their stability. Some edifices are erected without 
the aid of cement : and if the stones be large and well 
squared, such structures may be highly substantial and 
durable ; even when rude and slight, houses so built 
answer the piu-poses of life. These are entirely upheld 
by friction, and without the support of that agent they 
would be thrown down by the zephyr, far more easily 
than if all the stones were lumps of ice with a thawing 
surface. But even in cases where cement hinds the 
masonry, it does not take the duty of holding it toge- 
ther. In consequence of the existence of friction, there 
is no constant tendency of the stones to separate ; they 



FRICTION. 



209 



are in a state of repose. If tliis were not so, if every 
shock and every breeze required to be counteracted by 
the cement, no composition exists which would long 
sustain such a wear and tear. The cement excludes 
the corroding elements, and helps to resist extraordi- 
nary violence; but it is friction which gives the habitual 
state of rest. 

We are not to consider friction as a small force, 
slightly modifying the effects of other agencies. On 
the contrary its amount is in most cases very gTeat. 
When a body lies loose on the gTound, the friction is 
equal to one third or one half, or in some cases the 
whole, of its weight. But in cases of bodies supported 
by oblique pressure, the amount is far more enormous. 
In the arch of a bridge, the friction which is called 
mto play between two of the vaulting stones, may be 
equal to the whole weight of the bridge. In such 
cases this conservative force is so great, that the 
common theory, which neglects it, does not help us 
even to guess what will take place. According to the 
theory, certain forms of arches only will stand; but 
in practice almost any form will stand, and it is not 
easy to construct a model of a bridge which will fall. 

We may see the great force of friction in the hrake^ 
by which a large weight running down a long inclined 
plane has its motion moderated and stopped ; in the 
windlass, where a few coils of the rope round a cylinder 
sustain the stress and weight of a large iron anchor ; 
in the nail or screw which holds together large beams ; 
in the mode of raising large blocks of granite by an 
iron rod driven into a hole in the stone. Probably 



210 



COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



110 greater forces are exercised in any processes in the 
arts than the force of friction ; and it is always em- 
ployed to produce rest, stability, moderate motion. 
Being always ready and never wearied, always at hand 
and augmenting with the exigency, it regulates, con- 
trols, subdues all motions ; — counteracts all other 
agents ; — and finally gains the mastery over all other 
terrestrial agencies, however violent, frequent, or long 
continued. Tlie perpetual action of all other terrestrial 
forces appears, on a large scale, only as so many inter- 
ruptions of the constant and stationary rule of friction. 

The objects which every where surround us, the 
books or dishes which stand on our tables, om* tables 
and chairs themselves, the loose clods and stones in 
the field, the heaviest masses produced by nature or 
art, would be in a perpetual motion, quick or slow 
according to the forces which acted on them, and to 
their size, if it were not for the tranquilHsing and 
steadying effects of the agent we are considering. 
Without this, our apartments, if they kei^t their shape, 
would exhibit to us articles of furniture, and of all 
other kinds, sliding and creeping from side to side at 
every push and every wind, like loose objects in a 
ship's cabin, when she is changing her course in a gale. 

Here, then, we have a force, most extensive and 
incessant in its operation, which is absolutely essen- 
tial to the business of tliis terrestrial world, according 
to any notion which we can form. The more any one 
considers its effects, the more he will find how univer- 
sally dependent he is upon it, in every action of his 
life; resting or moving, dealing with objects of art 



PRICTION. 



211 



or of nature, with instruments of enjoyment or of 
action. 

II, Now we have to observe concerning this agent, 
Friction, that we have no ground for asserting it to be 
a necessary result of other properties of matter, for 
instance, of their solidity and coherency. Philosophers 
have not been able to deduce the laws of friction from 
the other known properties of matter, nor even to 
explain what we know experimentally of such laws, 
(which is not much,) without introducing new hypo- 
theses concerning the surfaces of bodies, &c. — hypotheses 
which are not supplied us by any other set of pheno- 
mena. So far as our knowledge goes, friction is a 
separate property, and may be conceived to have been 
bestowed upon matter for particular purposes. How 
weU it answers the purpose of fitting matter for the 
uses of the daily life of man, we have already seen. 

We may make suppositions as to the mode in which 
friction is connected with the texture of bodies ; but 
little can be gained for philosophy, or for speculation 
of any kind, by such conjectures respecting unknown 
connexions. If, on the other hand, we consider this 
property of friction, and find that it prevails there, 
and there only, where the general functions, analogies, 
and relations of the universe require it, we shall 
probably receive a strong impression that it was intro- 
duced into the system of the world for a purpose. 

III. It is very remarkable that this force, which is 
thus so efiicacious, and discharges such important 
of&ces in all earthly mechanism, disappears altogether 
when we turn to the mechanism of the heavens. AU 

p 2 



COSMICAL AERANGEMENTS. 



motions on the earth soon stop ; — a macfime which 
imitates the movements of the stars cannot go long 
without winding up : but the stars themselves have 
gone on in their courses for ages, with no diminution 
of their motions, and offer no obvious prospect of an}- 
change. This is so palpable a fact, that the first 
attempts of men to systematise their mechanical notions 
were founded upon it. The ancients held that motions 
were to be distinguished into natural motions and 
violent, — the former go on without diminution — the 
latter are soon extinguished ; — the motions of the stars 
are of the former kind ; — those of a stone thrown, and 
in short all terrestrial motions, of the latter. Modern 
Philosophers maintain that the laws of motion are the 
same for celestial and terrestrial bodies; — that all 
motions are natural according to the above description; 
but that in terrestrial motions, friction comes in and 
alters their character, — destroys them so speedily that 
they appear to have existed only during an effort. And 
that this is the case will not now be contested. Is it 
not then somewhat remarkable that the same laws 
which produce a state of permanent motion in the 
heavens, should, on the earth, give rise to a condition 
in w^hich rest is the rule and motion the exception ? 
The air, the waters, and the lighter portions of matter 
are, no doubt, in a state of perpetual movement ; over 
these friction has no empire : yet even their motions 
are interrupted, alternate, variable, and on the whole 
slight deviations from the condition of equilibrium. 
But in the solid parts of the globe, rest predominates 
incomparably over motion : and this, not only with 



PEICTION. 



213 



regard to the portions which cohere as parts of the 
same solid ; for the whole surface of the earth is 
covered with loose masses, which, if the power of 
niction were abohshed, would rush from their places 
and begin one universal and interminable dance, which 
would make the earth absolutely uninhabitable. 

If, on the other hand, the dominion of friction were 
extended in any considerable degree into the planetarj^ 
spaces, there would soon be an end of the system. If 
the planet had moved in a fluid, such as the Cartesians 
supposed, and if tins fluid had been subject to the 
rules of friction which prevail in terrestrial fluids, their 
motions could not have been of long duration. The 
solar system must soon have ceased to be a system of 
revolving bodies. 

But friction is neither abolished on the earth, nor 
active in the heavens. It operates where it is w^anted, 
it is absent where it would be prejudicial. And both 
these circumstances occasion, in a remarkable manner, 
the steadiness of the course of nature. The stable 
condition of the objects in man's immediate neigh- 
bom'hood, and the unvarying motions of the luminaries 
of heaven, are alilve conducive to his well-being. This 
requii-es that he should be able to depend upon a fixed 
order of place, a fixed course of time. It requires;, 
therefore, that terrestrial objects should be affected b}' 
friction, and that celestial should not ; as is the case, in 
fact. What further evidence of benevolent design could 
this part of the constitution of the universe supply ? 

IV. There is another view which may be taken 
of the forces which operate on the earth to produce 



214 



COSMIC AL AEEANGEMENTS. 



permanency or change. Some parts of the terrestrial 
system are under the dominion of powers which act 
energetically to prevent all motion, as the crystalline 
forces hy which the x^arts of rocks are bound together ; 
other parts are influenced by powers vv^hich produce a 
perpetual movement and change in the matter of which 
the}^ consist ; thus plants and animals are in a constant 
state of internal motion, by the agency of the vital 
forces. In the former case rigid immutability, in the 
latter perpetual development, are the tendencies of the 
agencies employed. Now in the case of objects affected 
by friction, we have a kind of intermediate condition, 
between the constantly fixed and the constantly move- 
able. Such objects can and do move ; but they move 
but for a short time if left to the laws of nature. 
When at rest, they can easity be put in motion, but 
still not with unlimited ease ; a certain finite effort, 
different in different cases, is requisite for this purpose. 
Now this intermediate condition, this capacity of 
receiving readily and alternately the states of rest and 
motion, is absolutely requisite for the nature of man, 
for the exertion of will, of contrivance, of foresight, as 
well as for the comfort of life and the conditions of our 
material existence. If all objects were fixed and im- 
moveable, as if frozen into one mass ; or if they were 
susceptible of such motions only as are found in the 
parts of vegetables, we attempt in vam to conceive what 
would come of the business of the world. But, besides 
the state of a particle which cannot be moved, and of 
a particle which cannot be stopped, we have the 
state of a particle moveable but not moved ; or moved, 



FEICTION. 



215 



but moved only while we choose : and this state 
is that about which the powers, the thoughts, and the 
wants of man are mainlj^ conversant. 

Thus the forces b}^ which solidity and by which 
organic action are produced, the laws of permanence 
and of development, do not bring about all that happens. 
Besides these, there is a mechanical condition, that of 
a body exposed to friction, which is neither one of 
absolute permanency nor one naturall}^ progressive ; but 
is j^etone absolutely necessary to make material objects 
capable of being instruments and aids to man; and 
this is the condition of by far the greater part of ter- 
restrial things. The habitual course of events with 
regard to motion and rest is not the same for familiar* 
moveable articles, as it is for the parts of the mineral, 
or of the vegetable world, when left to themselves ; such 
articles are in a condition far better adapted than any 
of those other conditions would be, to theii' place and 
purpose. Surely tliis shows us an adaptation, an 
adjustment, of the constitution of the material world 
to the nature of man. And as the organisation of plants 
cannot be conceived otherwise than as having their^ 
life and growth for its object, so we cannot conceive 
that friction should be one of the leading agencies in 
the world in which man 'is placed, T\ithout supposing 
that it was intended to be of use when man should walk 
and run, and build houses and ships, and bridges, and 
execute innumerable other processes, all of which 
would be impossible, admirably constituted as man is 
in other respects, if friction did not exist. And beUev- 
ing, as we conceive we cannot but believe, that the laws 



216 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of motion and rest were thus given with reference to 
their ends, we perceive in this instance, as in others, 
how wide and in'ofoimd this reference is, how simple in 
its means, how fertile in its consequences, how effective 
in its details. 



BOOK III. 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 

The contemplation of the material universe exhibits 
God to us as the author of the laws of material nature ; 
bringing before us a wonderful spectacle, in the sim- 
plicity, the comprehensiveness, the mutual adaptation 
of these laws, and in the vast variet}^ of harmonious 
and beneficial effects produced by their mutual bearing 
and combined operation. But it is the consideration 
of the moral world, of the results of our powers of 
thought and action, which leads us to regard the Deity 
in that Light in wliicli our relation to him becomes a 
matter of the highest interest and importance. We 
perceive that man is capable of referring his actions to 
principles of right and wrong ; that both his faculties 
and his virtues may be unfolded and advanced by the 
discipline which arises from the circumstances of human 
society ; that good men can be discriminated from the 
bad, only by a course of trial, by struggles with diffi- 
culty and temptation ; that the best men feel deeply 
the need of relymg, in such conflicts, on the thought of 



HELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



217 



a superintending Spiritual Power ; that our views of 
justice, our capacity for intellectual and moral advance- 
ment, and a crowxl of hopes and anticipations which 
rise in our bosoms unsought, and cling there with 
inexhaustible tenacity, will not allow us to acquiesce 
in the behef that this life is the end of our existence. 
We are thus led to see that our relation to the 
Superintender of our moral being, to the Depositary 
of the supreme law of just and right, is a relation of 
incalculable consequence. We find that we cannot be 
permitted to be merely contemplators and speculators 
with regard to the Governor of the moral world ; we 
must obey His will ; we must turn our affections to 
Him; we must advance in His favour; or w^e offend 
against the nature of our position in the scheme of 
which He is the author and sustainer. 

It is far from our purpose to represent natural 
religion as of itself suf&cient for our support and 
guidance ; or to underrate the manner in which our 
views of the Lord of the universe have been, much 
more, perhaps, than we are sometimes aware, illus- 
trated and confirmed by lights derived from revelation. 
We do not here speak of the manner in which men 
have come to believe in God, as the Governor of the 
moral world ; but of the fact, that by the aid of one or 
both of these two guides, Eeason or Revelation, re- 
flecting persons in every age have been led to such a 
belief. And Ave conceive it may be useful to point 
out some connexion between such a belief of a just 
and holy Governor, and the conviction, which we 
have already endeavoured to impress upon the reader, 



218 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of a wise and benevolent Creator of the physical world. 
This we shall endeavour to do in the present book. 

At the same time that men have thus learnt to look 
upon God as their Governor and Judge, the source of 
their support and reward, they have also been led, not 
only to ascribe to him power and skill, knowledge and 
goodness, but also to attribute to him these qualities in 
a mode and degree excluding all limit : — to consider 
him as almighty, allwise, of infinite knowledge and 
inexhaustible goodness ; everywhere present and active, 
but incomprehensible by our minds, both in the manner 
of his agency, and the degree of his perfections. And 
this impression concerning the Deity appears to be that 
which the mind receives from all objects of contempla- 
tion and all modes of advance towards truth. To this 
conception it leaps with alacrity and joy, and in this it 
acquiesces with tranquil satisfaction and growing confi- 
dence ; while any other view of the nature of the Divine 
Power which formed and sustained the world, is inco- 
herent and untenable, exposed to insurmomitable objec- 
tions and intolerable incongruities. We shall endeavoui' 
to show that the modes of employment of the thoughts 
to which the well conducted study of nature gives rise, 
do tend, in all their forms, to produce or strengthen 
this impression on the mind ; and that such an impres- 
sion, and no other, is consistent with the wisest views 
and most comprehensive aspects of nature and of 
philosoi)hy, which our Natural Philosophy opens to 
us. This will be the purpose of the latter part of the 
present book. In the first place we shall -proceed, with 
the object fii'st mentioned, the connexion which may 



A MORAL GOVERNOR. 



219 



be perceived between the evidences of creative power, 
and of moral government, in the world. 

Chap. I. — Tlie Creator of the Physical Wwld is the Governor of 
the Moral World. 

With our views of tlie moral government of the 
world and the religious interests of man, the stud}^ of 
material nature is not and cannot be directly and 
closely connected. But it may be of some service to 
trace m these two lines of reasoning, seemingly so 
remote, a manifest convergence to the same x3oint, a 
demonstrable unity of result. It may be useful to 
show that we are thus led, not to two rulers of the 
universe, but to one God ; — to make it ap^oear that the 
Creator and Preserver of the world is also the Governor 
and Judge of men ; that the Author of the Laws of 
Nature is also the Author of the Law of Duty ; — that 
He who regulates corporeal things by properties of 
attraction and affinity and assimilating power, is the 
same being who regulates the actions and conditions of 
men, by the influence of the feeling of responsibility, 
the perception of right and wrong, the hope of happiness, 
the love of good. 

The conviction that the Divine attributes which we 
are taught by the study of the material world, and 
those which we learn from the contemplation of man 
as a responsible agent, belong to the same Di^dne 
Being, will be forced upon us, if we consider the 
manner in which all the parts of the universe, the 
corporeal and intellectual, the animal and moral, are 



220 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



connected with each other. In each of these provinces 
of creation we trace refined adaptations and arrange- 
ments which lead us to the Creator and Director of so 
skilful a system ; but these provinces are so intermixed, 
these different trains of contrivance so interwoveji, that 
we cannot, in our thoughts, separate the author of one 
part from the author of another. The Creator of the 
Heavens and of the Earth, of the inorganic and of the 
organic world, of animals and of man, of the affections 
and the conscience, appears inevitably to be one and 
the same God. 

"We will pursue this reflection a little more into 
detail. 

I. The Atmosphere is a mere mass of fluid floating 
on the surface of the ball of the earth ; it is one of the 
inert and inorganic portions of the universe, and must 
be conceived to have been formed by the same Power 
which formed the solid mass of the earth and all other 
parts of the solar system. But how far is the atmos- 
phere from being inert in its effects on organic beings, 
and unconnected with the world of life ! By what 
wonderful adaptations of its mechanical and chemical 
properties, and of the vital powers of plants, to each 
other, are the development and well-being of plants 
and animals secured ! The creator of the atmosphere 
must have been also the creator of plants and animals : 
we cannot for an instant believe the contrary. But the 
atmosphere is not only subservient to the life of animals, 
and of man among the rest ; it is also the vehicle of 
voice ; it answers the purpose of intercourse ; and, in 
the case of man, of rational intercourse. We have seen 



A MORAL GO^^ENOR. 



221 



how remarkably the air is fitted for this office ; the 
construction of the organs of articulation, by which 
they are enabled to perform their part of the work, is, 
as is well known, a most exquisite system of contriv- 
ances. But tliough living in an atmosphere capable of 
transmitting articulate sound, and though provided 
with organs fitted to articulate, man would never attain 
to the use of language, if he were not also endowed with 
another set of faculties. The powers of abstraction and 
generalisation, memory and reason, the tendencies 
which occasion the inflexions and combinations of 
words, are all necessary to the formation and use of 
language. Are not these parts of the same scheme of 
which the bodily faculties by which we are able to 
speak are another part ? Has man his mental powers 
independently of the creator of his bodily frame ? To 
what purpose then, or by what cause was the curious 
and complex machinery of the tongue, the glottis, the 
larynx produced ? These are useful for speech, and 
full of contrivances which suggest such a use as the 
end for which those organs Avere constructed. But 
speech appears to have been no less contemplated in 
the intellectual structure of man. The processes of 
which we have spoken, generalisation, abstraction, 
reasoning, have a close dependence on the use of 
speech. These faculties are presupposed in the 
formation of language, but they are developed and 
perfected by the use of language. The mind of man 
then, with all its intellectual endowments, is the work 
of the same artist by whose hands his bodily frame was 
fashioned ; as his bodily faculties again are evidently 



222 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



constructed by the maker of those elements on which 
their action depends. The creator of the atmosphere 
and of the material universe is the creator of the human 
mind, and the author of those wonderful powers of 
thinking, judging, inferring, discovering, by which we 
are able to reason concerning the world in which we 
are placed ; and which aid us in lifting our thoughts to 
the source of our being himself. 

II. Light, or the means by which light is propagated, 
is another of the inorganic elements which forms a 
portion of the mere material world. The luminiferous 
ether, if we adopt that theory, or the fluid Hght of the 
theorj^ of emission, must indubitably pervade the 
remotest regions of the universe, and must be sup- 
posed to exist, as soon as we suppose the material 
parts of the universe to be in existence. The origin of 
light then must be at least as far removed from us as 
the origin of the solar system. Yet how closely con- 
nected are the properties of light with the structure of 
our own bodies ! The mechanism of the organs of 
vision and the mechanism of light are, as we have seen, 
most curiously adapted to each other. We must sup- 
pose, then, that the same power and skill produced one 
and the other of these two sets of contrivances, which 
so remarkably fit into each other. The creator of light 
is the author of our visual powers. But how small a 
portion does mere visual perception constitute of the 
advantages which we derive from vision ! We possess 
.ulterior faculties and capacities by which sight becomes 
a source of happiness and good to man. The sense of 
beauty, the love of art, the pleasure arising from the 



A MORAL GOVERNOE. 



22S 



contemplation of nature, are pJl dependent on the eye ; 
and we can hardly doubt that these faculties were 
bestowed on man to further the best interests of his 
being. The sense of beauty both animates and refines 
his domestic tendencies ; the love of art is a powerful 
instrument for raising him above the mere cravings 
and satisfactions of his animal nature ; the expansion 
of mind which rises in us at the sight of the starry sky, 
the cloud-capt mountain, the boundless ocean, seems 
intended to direct our thoughts by an impressive 
though indefinite feeluig, to the Infinite Author of 
All. But if these faculties be thus part of the scheme 
of man's inner being, given him by a good and wise 
creator, can we suppose that this creator was any 
other than the creator also of those visual organs, 
without which the faculties could have no operation 
and no existence ? As clearly as light and the eye are 
the work of the same author, so clearly also do our 
capacities for the most exalted visual pleasures, and the 
feelings flowing from them, proceed from the same 
Divine Hand, by which the mechanism of light was 
constructed. 

III. The creator of the earth must be conceived to 
be the author also of all those qualities in the soil, 
chemical and whatever else, by which it supports 
vegetable life, under aU the modifications of natural 
and artificial condition. Among the attributes which 
the earth thus possesses, there are some which seem to 
have an especial reference to man in a state of society. 
Such are the power of the earth to increase its produce 
under the influence of cultivation, and the necessary 



224 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 

existence of property in land, in order that this culti- 
vation may be advantageously applied ; the rise, under 
such circumstances, of a surplus produce, of a quantity 
of subsistence exceeding the wants of the cultivators 
alone ; and the consequent possibility of inequalities of 
rank and of all the arrangements of civil society. 
These are all parts of the constitution of the earth. 
But these would all remain mere idle possibilities, if 
the nature of man had not a corresponding direction. 
If man had not a social and economical tendency, a 
disposition to congregate and co-operate, to distribute 
possessions and offices among the members of the com- 
munity, to make and obey and enforce laws, the earth 
would in vain be ready to respond to the care of the 
husbandman. Must we not then suppose that this 
attribute of the earth was bestowed upon it by Him 
who gave to man those corresponding attributes, 
through which the apparent niggardhness of the soil 
is the source of general comfort and security, of polity 
and law ? Must we not suppose that He who created 
the soil, also inspired man with those social desires 
and feelings which produce cities and states, laws and 
institutions, arts and civilisation ; and that thus the 
apparently inert mass of earth is a part of the same 
scheme as those faculties and powers with which man's 
moral and intellectual progress is most connected ? 

IV. Again : — It will hardly be questioned that the 
author of the material elements is also the author of the 
structure of animals, which is adapted to and provided 
for by the constitution of the elements in such innu- 
merable ways. But the author of the bodily structure 



A MORAL GOYERNOE. 



225 



of animals must also be the author of theii* instmcts, 
for without these the structure would not answer its 
purpose. And these instincts frequently assume the 
character of affections in a most remarkable manner. 
The love of offspring, of home, of companions, are 
often displayed by animals, in a way that strikes the 
most indifferent observer ; and yet these affections will 
hardly be denied to be a part of the same scheme as 
the instincts by which the same animals seek food and 
the gratifications of sense. Who can doubt that the 
anxious and devoted affection of the mother-bird for 
her young after they are hatched, is a part of the same 
system of Providence as the instinct by which she is 
impelled to sit upon her eggs ? and this, of the same 
by which her eggs are so organised that incubation 
leads to the bii'th of the young animal ? Nor, again, 
can we imagine that while the structure and affections 
of animals belong to one system of things, the affec- 
tions of man, in many respects so similar to those of 
animals, and connected with the bodily frame in a 
manner so closely analogous, can belong to a different 
scheme. Who, that reads the touching instances of 
maternal affection, related so often of the women of all 
nations, and of the females of all animals, can doubt 
that the principle of action is the same in the two 
cases though enlightened in one of them by the rational 
faculty ? And who can place in separate provinces the 
supporting and protecting love of the father and of the 
mother ? or consider as entirely distinct from these, 
and belonging to another part of om- nature, the other 
kinds of family affection ? or disjoin man's love of his 



226 



llELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



home, his clan, his tribe, his country, from the affection 
which he bears to his family ? The love of offspring, 
home, friends, in man, is then part of the same system 
of contrivances of which bodily organisation is another 
part. And thus the author of our corporeal frame is 
also the author of our capacity of kindness and resent- 
ment, of our love and of our wish to be loved, of all the 
emotions which bind us to individuals, to our families, 
and to our kind. 

It is not necessar}^ here to follow out and classify 
these emotions and affections ; or to examine how they 
are combined and connected with our other motives of 
action, mutually giving and receiving strength and 
direction. The desire of esteem, of powder, of know- 
ledge, of society, the love of kindred, of friends, of our 
country, are manifestly among the main forces by which 
man is urged to act and to abstain. And as these 
parts of the constitution of man are clearly intended, 
as we conceive, to impel him in his appointed path ; so 
w^e conceive that they are no less clearly the work 
of the same great Artificer who created the heart, 
the eye, the hand, the tongue, and that elemental 
w^orld in which, by means of these instruments, 
man pursues the objects of his appetites,' desires, and 
affections. 

Y. But if the Creator of the world be also the author 
of our intellectual powers, of our feeling for the beau- 
tiful and the sublime, of our social tendencies, and of 
our natural desires and affections, we shall find it im- 
possible not to ascribe also to Him the higher directive 
attributes of our nature, the conscience and the religious 



A MORAL GOVERNOR. 



227 



feeling, the reference of our actions to the rule of duty 
and to the will of God. 

It would not suit the plan of the present treatise to 
enter into any detailed analysis of the connexion of 
these various portions of our moral constitution. But 
we may observe that the existence and universality of 
the conception of duty and right cannot be doubted, 
however men may differ as to its original or derivative 
nature. All men are perpetually led to form judgments 
concerning actions, and emotions which lead to action, 
as right or wrong : as what they ought or ought not to 
do or feel. There is a faculty which approves and dis- 
approves, acquits or condemns the workings of our 
other faculties. Now, what shall we say of such a 
judiciary principle, thus introduced among our motives 
to action ? Shall we conceive that while the other 
springs of action are balanced against each other by 
our Creator, this the most pervading and universal 
regulator, was no part of the original scheme ? That 
— while the love of animal pleasures, of power, of fame, 
the regard for friends, the pleasure of bestowing plea- 
sure, were infused into man as influences by which his 
course of life was to be carried on, and his capacities 
and powers developed and exercised ; — this reverence 
for a moral law, this acknowledgment of the obligation 
of duty, — a feeling which is everywhere found, and 
which may become a powerful, a predominating motive 
of action, — was given for no purpose, and belongs not 
to the design ? Such an opinion would be much as if 
we should acknowledge the skill and contrivance mani- 
fested in the other parts of a ship, but should refuse to 

Q 2 



228 



llELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



recognise the rudder as exhibiting any evidence of a 
purpose. Without the reverence which the opinion of 
right inspires, and the scourge of general disapprobation 
inflicted on that which is accounted wicked, society 
could scarcely go on; and certainly the feelings and 
thoughts and characters of men could not be what they 
are. Those impulses of nature which involve no 
acknowledgment of responsibility, and the play and 
struggle of interfering wishes, might preserve the 
species in some shape of existence, as we see in the 
case of brutes. But a person must be strangely con- 
stituted, who, living amid the respect for law, the 
admiration for wliat is good, the order and virtues 
and graces of civilised nations, (all which have their 
origin in some degree in the feehng of responsibility) 
can maintain that all these are casual and extraneous 
circumstances, no way contemplated in the formation 
of man ; and that a condition in which there should be 
no obligation in law, no merit in self-restraint, no 
beauty in virtue, is equally suited to the powers and 
the nature of man, and was equally contemplated when 
those powers were given him. 

If this supposition be too extravagant to be admitted, 
as it appears to be, it remains then that man, intended, 
as we have already seen from his structure and pro- 
perties, to be a discoursing, social being, acting under 
the influence of affections, desires, and purposes, was 
also intended to act under the influence of a sense of 
duty ; and that the acknowledgment of the obligation 
of a moral law is as much part of his nature, as hunger 
or thirst, maternal love or the desire of power ; that, 



A MORAL GOVERNOR. 



229 



therefore, in conceiving man as the work of a Creator, 
we must imagine liis powers and character given him 
with an intention on the Creator's part that this sense 
of duty should occupy its place in his constitution as 
an active and thinking being : and that this directive and 
judiciary principle is a part of the work of the same 
Author who made the elements to minister to the 
material functions, and the arrangements of the world 
to occupy the individual and social affections of his 
living creatures. 

This principle of conscience, it may further be 
observed, does not stand upon the same level as the 
other impulses of our constitution by which we are 
prompted or restrained. By its very nature and 
essence, it possesses a supremacy over all others. 
" Your obligation to obey this law is its being the law 
of your nature. That your conscience approves of and 
attests such a course of action is itself alone an 
obligation. Conscience does not only offer itself to 
show us the way Vv^e should walk in, but it likewise 
carries its own authority with it, that it is our natural 
guide : the guide assigned us by the author of our 
nature." * That we ought to do an action, is of itself 
a sufficient and ultimate answer to the questions, 
tvhy we should do it? — how we are obliged to do 
it ? The conviction of duty implies the soundest 
reason, the strongest obligation, of which our nature 
is susceptible. 

We appear then to be using only language which is 
well capable of being justified, when we speak of this 

* Butler, Serm. 3. 



230 



IIELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



irresistible esteem for what is right, this conviction of 
a rule of action extending bej^ond the gratification of 
our irreflective impulses, as an impress stamped upon 
the human mind by the Deity himself; a trace of His 
nature; an indication of His will; an announcement 
of His purpose ; a promise of His favour ; and though 
this faculty may need to be confirmed and unfolded, 
instructed and assisted by other aids, it still seems 
to contain in itself a sufficient intimation that the 
highest objects of man's existence are to be attained, 
by means of a direct and intimate reference of his 
thottghts and actions to the Divine Author of his being. 

Such then is ihe Deity to which the researches of 
Natural Theology point ; and so far is the train of 
reflections in which we have engaged, from being 
merely speculative and bai'ren. With the material 
world we cannot stop. If a superior Intelligence have 
ordered and adjusted the succession of seasons and the 
structure of the plants of the field, we must allow far 
more than this at first sight would seem to impty. 
We must admit still greater powers, still higher wisdom 
for the creation of the beasts of the forest with their 
faculties ; and higher wisdom still and more transcen- 
dent attributes, for the creation of man. And when we 
reach this point, we find that it is not knowledge only, 
not power only, not foresight and beneficence alone, 
which we must attribute to the Maker of the World ; 
but that we must consider him as the author, in us, of 
a reverence for moral purity and rectitude ; and, if the 
author of such emotions in us, how can we conceive of 
Him otherwise, than that these qualities are parts of 



VASTNESS OF THE TJNIVEESE. 



231 



Ms nature ; and that He is not only wise and great, 
and good, incomparably beyond our highest concep- 
tions, but also conformed in his purposes to the rule 
which He thus impresses upon us, that is, Holy in 
the highest degree which we can image to ourselves as 
possible. 

CHAr, II. — On the Vastness of the Universe. 

I. The aspect of the world, even without any of the 
peculiar lights which science throws upon it, is fitted 
to give us an idea of the greatness of the power by 
which it is directed and governed, far exceeding any 
notions of power and greatness which are suggested by 
any other contemplation. The number of human 
beings who surround us — the various conditions requi- 
site for their life, nutrition, well-being, all fulfilled ; — 
the wa}^ in which these conditions are modified, as we 
pass in thought to other countries, by climate, tempera- 
ment, habit ; — the vast amount of the human population 
of the globe thus made up ; yet man himself but one 
among almost endless tribes of animals ; — the forest, 
the field, the desert, the air, the ocean, all teeming 
with creatures whose bodily wants are as carefulty pro- 
vided for as liis : — the sun, the clouds, the winds, all 
attending, as it were, on these organised beings ; — a 
host of beneficent energies, unwearied by time and 
succession, pervading every corner of the earth ; — this 
spectacle cannot but give the contemplator a lofty and 
magnificent conception of the Author of so vast a work, 
of the Ruler of so wide and rich an empire, of the 
Provider for so many and varied wants, the Director 



232 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



and Adjuster of such complex and jarring inte- 
rests. 

But when we take a more exact view of this spectacle, 
and aid our vision by the discoveries which have been 
made of the structure and extent of the universe, the 
impression is incalculably increased. 

The number and variety of animals, the exquisite 
skill displayed in their structure, the comprehensive 
and profound relations by wdiich they are connected, 
far exceed any thing which we could have beforehand 
imagined. But the view of the universe expands also 
on another side. The earth, the globular body thus 
covered with life, is not the only globe in the universe. 
There are, circling about our own sun, six others, so 
far as we can judge, perfectly analogous in their nature : 
besides our moon and other bodies analogous to it. 
No one can resist the temptation to conjecture, that 
these globes, some of them much larger than our own, 
are not dead and barren; — that they are, like ours, 
occupied with organisation, life, intelligence. To con- 
jecture is all that we can do, yet even by the perception 
of such a possibility, our view of the domain of nature 
is enlarged and elevated. The outermost of the 
planetary globes of which we have spoken is so far 
from the sun, that the central luminary must appear to 
the inhabitants of that planet, if any there are, no larger 
than Yenus does to us ; and the length of their year 
will be eighty-two of ours. 

But astronomy carries us still onwards. It teaches 
us that, with the exception of the planets already men- 
tioned, the stars which we see have no immediate 



VASTNESS OP THE UNIVERSE. 



233 



relation to our system. The obvious supiDOsition is 
that they are of the nature and order of our sun : the 
minuteness of their apparent magnitude agrees, on this 
supposition, with the enormous and almost inconceiv- 
able distance which, from all the measurements of 
astronomers, we are led to attribute to them. If then, 
these are suns, they may, lilve our sun, have planets 
revolving round them ; and these may, like our planet, 
be the seats of vegetable and animal and rational life : 
— we may thus have in the universe worlds, no one 
knows how many, no one can guess how varied ; — but 
however many, however varied, they are still but so 
many provinces in the same empire, subject to common 
rules, governed by a common power. 

But the stars which we see with the naked eye are 
but a very small portion of those which the telescope 
unveils to us. The most imperfect telescope will 
discover some that are invisible without it ; the very 
best instrument perhaps does not show us the most 
remote. The number of stars which crowd some parts 
of the heavens is truly marvellous : Dr. Herschel 
calculated that a portion of the milky way, about 
10 degrees long and 24 broad, contained 258,000. In 
a sky so occupied the moon would eclipse 2000 of such 
stars at once. 

We learn too from the telescope that even in this 
province the variety of nature is not exhausted. Not 
only do the stars differ in colour and appearance, but 
some of them grow periodically fainter and brighter, as 
if they were dark on one side, and revolved on their 
axes. In other cases two stars appear close to each 



234 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



other, and in some of these cases it has been clearly 
established, that the two have a motion of revolution 
about each other ; thus exhibiting an arrangement new 
to the astronomer, and giving rise, possibly, to new 
conditions of worlds. In other instances, again, the 
telescope show^s, not luminous points, but extended 
masses of dilute light, like bright clouds, hence called 
nehulcE. Some have supposed (as we have noticed in 
the last book) that such nebulse by further condensation 
might become suns ; but for such opinions we have 
nothing but conjecture. Some stars again have under- 
gone permanent changes ; or have absolutely disap- 
peared, as the celebrated star of 1573, in the constella- 
tion Cassiopeia. 

If we take the whole range of created objects in our 
own system, from the sun down to the smallest animal- 
cvile, and suppose such a system, or something in some 
way analogous to it, to be repeated for each of tlie 
millions of stars which the telescope reveals to us, we 
obtaui a representation of the material universe; at 
least a representation which to many persons appears 
the most probable one. And if we contemplate this 
aggregate of systems as the w^ork of a Creator, which 
in our own system we have found ourselves so irre- 
sistibly led to do, we obtain a sort of estimate of the 
extent through which his creative energy may be traced, 
by taking the widest view of the universe wliich our 
faculties have attained. 

If we consider further the endless and admirable 
contrivances and adaptations which philosophers and 
observers have discovered in every portion of our own 



VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSE. 



235 



system ; every new step of our knowledge showing us 
something new in this respect ; and if we combine this 
consideration with the thought how small a portion of 
the universe our knowledge includes, we shall, without 
being able at all to discern the extent of the skill and 
wisdom displayed in the creation, see something of the 
character of the design, and of the copiousness and 
amplenesss of the means which the scheme of the world 
exhibits. And when we see that the tendency of all 
the arrangements which we can comprehend is to sup- 
port the existence, to develope the faculties, to promote 
the well-being of these countless species of creatures ; 
we shall have some impression of the beneficence and 
love of the Creator, as manifested in the physical 
government of his creation. 

II. It is extremely difficult to devise any means of 
bringing before a common apprehension the scale 
on which the universe is constructed, the enormous 
proportion which the larger dimensions bear to the 
smaller, and the amazing number of steps from larger 
to smaller, or from small to larger, which the consider- 
ation of it offers. The following comparative repre- 
sentations may serve to give the reader to whom the 
subject is new some idea of these steps. 

If we suppose the earth to be represented by a globe 
a foot in diameter, the distance of the sun from the 
earth will be about two miles ; the diameter of the sun, 
on the same supposition, will be something above one 
hundred feet, and consequently liis bulli such as might 
be made up of two hemispheres, each about the size of 
the dome of St. Paul's. The moon will be thirty feet 



236 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



from us, and lier diameter three inches, about that of a 
cricket ball. Thus the sun would much more than 
occupy all the space within the moon's orbit. On the 
same scale, Jupiter w^ould be above ten miles from the 
sun, and Uranus forty. We see then how thinly 
scattered through space are the heavenly bodies. The 
fixed stars would be at an unknown distance, but, j^ro- 
bably, if all distances were thus diminished, no star 
would be nearer to such a one -foot earth, than the 
moon now is to us. 

On such a terrestrial globe the highest mountains 
would be about l-80th of an inch high, and consequently 
only just distinguishable. We may imagine therefore 
how imperceptible w^ould be the largest animals. The 
wdiole organised covering of such an earth would be 
quite undiscoverable by the eye, except perhaps by 
colour, like the bloom on a j^lum. 

In order to restore the earth and its inhabitants to 
their true dimensions, we must magnify the length, 
breadth, and thickness of every part of our supposed 
models forty millions of times ; and to preserve the 
proportions, we must increase equally the distances of 
the sun and of the stars from us. They seem thus to 
pass off into mfinity ; yet each of them thus removed, 
has its system of mechanical and perhaps of organic 
processes going on upon its surface. 

But the arrangements of organic life which we can see 
with the naked eye are few, compared with those wliich 
the microscope detects. We know that we may mag- 
nify objects thousands of times, and still discover fresh 
complexities of structure ; if we suppose, therefore. 



VASTNESS OF THE "UNIVERSE. 



237 



that we thus magnify every member of the universe and 
every particle of matter of wliich it consists ; we may 
imagine that we make perceptible to our senses the 
vast multitude of organised adaptations which lie hid 
on every side of us ; and in this manner we approach 
tow^ards an estimate of the extent through which we may 
trace the power and sldll of the Creator, by scrutmising 
his work with the utmost subtlety of our faculties. 

III. The other numerical quantities wdiich we have 
to consider in the phenomena of the universe are on as 
gigantic a scale as the distances and sizes. By the 
rotation of the earth on its axis, the parts of the equator 
move at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, and the 
portions of the earth's surface wdiich are in our 
latitude, at about six hundred. The former velocity is 
nearly that mth which a cannon ball is discharged 
from the mouth of a gun; but, large as it is, it is 
inconsiderable compared with the velocity of the earth 
in its orbit about the sun. This latter velocity is sixty- 
five times the former. By the rotatory motion of the 
earth, a point of its surface is carried sometimes for- 
wards and sometimes backwards with regard to the 
annual progression; but in consequence of the great 
predommance of the annual motion in amount, the 
diurnal scarcely affects it either way in any appreciable 
degree. And even the velocity of the earth in her 
orbit is inconsiderable compared with that of light ; 
which comparison, however, we shall not make ; smce, 
according to the theory we have considered as most 
probable, the motion of light is not a transfer of matter 
but of motion from one part of space to another. 



238 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



The extent of the scale of density of different sub- 
stances has abeady been mentioned; gold is twenty 
times as heavy as w^ater ; air is eight hundred and 
thirty times lighter, steam eight thousand times lighter 
than water; the luminiferous ether is incomparably 
rarer than steam : and this is true of the matter of 
light, whether we adopt the undulatory theory or any 
other. 

ly. The above estimates are vast in amount, and 
almost oppressive to our faculties. They belong to the 
measurement of the powers which are exerted in the 
universe, and of the spaces through which their efficacy 
reaches (for the most distant bodies are probably con- 
nected both by gravity and light). But these estimates 
cannot be said so much to give us an}^ notion of the 
powers of the Deity, as to correct the errors we should 
fall into by supposing his powers to have any limits 
like those which belong to our faculties : — by supposing 
that numbers, and spaces, and forces, and combinations, 
which would overwhelm us, are any obstacle to the 
arrangements which his plan requires. We can easily 
understand that to an intelligence surpassing ours m 
degree only, that may be easy which is impossible to 
us. The child who cannot count beyond four, the 
savage who has no name for any number above five, 
cannot comprehend the possibility of dealing with 
thousands and millions : yet a little additional develop- 
ment of the mtellect makes such numbers conceivable 
and manageable. The difficulty which appears to 
reside in numbers and magnitudes and stages of sub- 
ordination, is one produced by judging from ourselves 



VASTNES3 OF THE UNIVERSE. 



239 



— ^by measuring with our own sounding line ; when 
that reaches no bottom, the ocean appears unfathomable. 
Yet in fact how is a hundred millions of miles a great 
distance ? how is a hundred millions of times a great 
ratio ? Not in itself ; this greatness is no qualit}^ of 
the numbers which can be proved like their mathe- 
matical properties ; on the contrary, all that absolutely 
belongs to number, space, and ratio, must, we know 
demonstrably, be equally true of the largest and the 
smallest. It is clear that the greatness of these ex- 
pressions of measure has reference to our faculties only. 
Our astonishment and embarrassment take for granted 
the limits of our own nature. We have a tendency to 
treat a difference of degree and of addition, as if it 
were a difference of kind and of transformation. The 
existence of the attributes, design, power, goodness, is 
a matter depending on obvious grounds : about these 
qualities there can be no mistake : if we can know any- 
thing, we can know these attributes when we see them. 
B^t the extent, the limits of such attributes must be 
determined by their effects ; our knowledge of their 
limits by what we see of the effects. Nor is any 
extent, any amount of power and goodness impro- 
bable beforehand : we know that these must be great, 
we cannot tell how great. We should not expect 
beforehand to find them bounded ; and therefore when 
the boundless prospect opens before us, we may be 
bewildered, but we have no reason to be shaken in 
our conviction of the reality of the cause from which 
their effects proceed : we may feel ourselves incapable 
of following the train of thought, and may stop, but 



240 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



we have no rational motive for quitting the point 
which we have thus attained in tracing the Divine 
Perfections. 

On the contrary, those magnitudes and proportions 
which leave our powers of conception far behind ; — that 
ever-expanding view which is brought before us, of the 
scale and mechanism, the riches and magnificence, the 
population and activity of the universe ; — may reason- 
ably serve, not to disturb, but to enlarge and elevate 
our conceptions of the Maker and Master of all ; to 
feed an ever-growing admiration of His wonderful 
nature ; and to excite a desire to be able to con- 
template more steadily and conceive less inadequately 
the scheme of his government and the operation of his 
power. 

Chap. III. — On Mail's Place in the Universe. 

The mere aspect of the starry heavens, without 
taking into account the view of them to which science 
introduces us, tends strongly to force upon man the 
impression of his own insignificance. The vault of the 
sky arched at a vast and unknown distance over our 
heads ; the stars, apparently infinite in number, each 
keeping its appointed place and course, and seeming 
to belong to a wide system of things wliich has no 
relation to the earth ; while man is but one among 
many millions of the earth's inhabitants; — all tliis 
makes the contemplative spectator feel how exceedingly 
small a portion of the universe he is ; how little he 
must be, in the eyes of an intelligence which can 
embrace the whole. Every person, in every age and 



man's place in the universe. 



241 



country, will recognise as irresistibly natural tlie train 
of thought expressed by the Hebrew psalmist : " "When 
I consider the heavens, the work of thy hands — the 
moon and the stars which thou hast ordained — Lord, 
what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of 
man that thou regardest him ? " 

If this be the feehng of the untaught person, when 
he contemplates the aspect of the skies, such as they 
offer themselves to a casual and unassisted glance, the 
impression must needs be incalculably augmented, 
when we look at the universe with the aid of astrono- 
mical discovery and theory. We then find, that a few 
of the shining points which we see scattered on the 
face of the sky in such profusion, appear to be of the 
same nature as the earth, and may perhaps, as analogy 
would suggest, be like the earth, the habitations of 
organised beings; — that the rest of "the host of 
heaven " may, by a lil^e analogy, be conjectured to be 
the centres of similar sj^stems of revolving worlds ; — 
that the vision of man has gone travelling onwards, to 
an extent never anticipated, through this multitude of 
systems, and that while m3^riads of new centres start 
up at every advance, he appears as yet not to have 
received any intimation of a hmit. Every person pro- 
bably feels, at first, lost, confounded, overwhelmed, 
with the vastness of this spectacle ; and seems to him- 
self, as it were, annihilated by the magnitude and 
multitude of the objects which thus compose the 
universe. The distance between him and the Creator 
of the world appears to be increased beyond measure 
by this disclosure. It seems as if a single individual 



242 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



could liave no chance and no claim for the regard of , 
the Euler of the whole. i 

The mode in which the belief of God's government 
of the physical world is important and interesting to 
man, is, as has already been said, through the con- 
nexion which this belief has with the conviction of 
God's government of the moral world; this latter 
government being, from its nature, one which has a 
personal relation to each individual, his actions and 
thoughts. It will, therefore, illustrate our subject to 
show that this impression of the difficulty of a personal 
supermtendence and government, exercised by the 
Maker of the world over each of his rational and free 
creatures, is fomided upon illusory views ; and that on 
an attentive and philosophical examination of the 
subject, such a government is in accordance with all | 
that we can discover of the scheme and the scale of the 
universe. 

I. We may, in the first place, repeat the observation jj 
made in the last chapter, on the confusion which some- 
times arises in our minds, and makes us consider the 
number of the objects of the Divine care as a difficulty 
in the way of its exercise. If we can conceive this 
care employed on a million persons — on the population 
of a kingdom, of a city, of a street — there is no real 
difficulty in supposing it extended to every planet in 
the solar system, admitting each to be peopled as ours 
is ; nor to every part of the universe, supposing each 
star the centre of such a system. Large numhers have 
no peculiar attributes which distinguish them from 
small ones ; and when we disregard the common limits 



MAJ^^S PLACE IN THE UNIVEESE. 



243 



of our own faculties, wiiicli, thougli important to us, 
can have no application to the Divine nature, it is quite 
as allowable to suppose a million millions of earths, as 
one, to be under the moral government of God. 

II. In the next place we may remark, not only that 
no reason can be assigned why the Divine care should 
not extend to a much greater number of individuals 
than we at first imagine, but that in fact we know that 
it does so extend. It has been well observed, that 
about the same time when the invention of the tele- 
scope showed us that there might be myriads of other 
worlds claiming the Creator's care ; the invention of 
the microscope proved to us that there were in our own 
world myriads of creatures, before unknown, which this 
care w^as preserving. "While one discovery seemed to 
remove the Divine Providence further from us, the 
other gave us most strildng examples that it was far 
more active in our neighbourhood than we had sup- 
posed : while the first extended the boundaries of God's 
known kingdom, the second made its known adminis- 
tration more minute and careful. It appeared that in 
the leaf and in the bud, in solids and in fluids, animals 
existed hitherto unsuspected ; the apparently dead 
masses and blank spaces of the world were found to 
swarm with Hfe. And yet, of the animals thus revealed, 
all, though unknown to us before, had never been for- 
gotten by Providence. Their structure, their vessels 
and limbs, their adaptation to their situation, their 
food and habitations, were regulated in as beautiful 
and complete a manner as those of the largest and 
apparently most favoured animals. The smallest 

R 2 



244 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



insects are as exactly finislied, often as gaily orna- 
mented, as the most graceful beast or the birds of 
brightest plumage. And when we seem to go out of 
the domain of the complex animal structure with 
which we are familiar, and come to animals of appa- 
rently more scanty faculties, and less developed powers 
of enjoyment and action, we still find that their 
faculties and their senses are in exact harmony with 
their situation and circumstances; that the wants 
which they have are provided for, and the powers 
which they possess called into activity. So that 
Mtiller, the patient and accurate observer of the 
smallest and most obscure microscopical animalcula, 
declares that all classes alike, those w^iich have mani- 
fest organs, and those which have not, offer a vast 
quantity of new and striking views of the animal 
economy ; every step of our discoveries leading us to 
admire the design and care of the Creator." We find, 
tlierefore, that the Divine Providence is, in fact, 
capable of extending itself adequately to an imm^ense 
succession of tribes of beings, surpassing what we 
can image or could previously have anticipated ; and 
thus we may feel secure, so far as analogy can secure 
us, that the mere multitude of created objects cannot 
remove us from the government and superintendence 
of the Creator. 

III. We may observe further, that, vast as are the 
parts and proportions of the universe, we still appear 
to be able to perceive that it is finite ; the subordination 
of magnitudes and numbers and classes appears to have 

* Mtiller, Infusoria, Preface. 



man's place in the universe. 



245 



its limits. Thus, for anytliing wliicli we can discover, 
the sun is the largest body in the universe ; and at any 
rate, bodies of the order of the sun are the largest of 
which we have any evidence : we know of no substances 
denser than gold and platinum, and it is improbable that 
any denser, or at least much denser, should ever be 
detected : the largest animals which exist in the sea and 
on the earth are almost certainly known to us. We may 
venture also to say, that the smallest animals which pos- 
sess in their structure a clear analogy with larger ones, 
have been already seen. Many of the animals which 
the microscope detects are as complete and complex m 
their organisation as those of larger size : but beyond 
a certain point, they appear, as they become more 
minute, to be reduced to a homogeneity and simplicity 
of composition which almost excludes them from the 
domain of animal life. The smallest microscopical 
objects which can be supposed to be organic, are 
points,* or gelatinous globules,! or threads,! in which 
no distinct organs, interior or exterior, can be dis- 
covered. These, it is clear, cannot be considered as 
indicating an indefinite progression of animal life in a 
descending scale of minuteness. We can, mathemati- 
cally speaking, conceive one of these animals as perfect 
and complicated in its structure as an elephant or an 
eagle, but we do not find it so in nature. It appears, 
on the contrary, in these objects, as if we were, at a 
certain point of magnitude, reaching the boundaries of 
the animal world. We need not here consider the 

* Monas. Miiller. Cuvier. f Volvox. 

X Vibrio. Miiller. Cuvier. 



246 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



hypothesis and opmions to which these ambiguous 
objects have given rise ; but without any theory, 
they tend to show that the subordination of organic 
life is finite on the side of the little as well as of the 
great. 

Some persons might perhaps imagine that a ground 
for belie vmg the smallness of organised beings to be ii 
limited, might be found in what we know of the consti- v. 
tution of matter. If solids and fluids consist of 
particles of a definite, though exceeding smalhiess, 
wliich cannot further be divided or diminished, it is : 
manifest that we have, in the smallness of these par- || 
tides, a limit to the possible size of the vessels and 
organs of animals. The fluids wliich are secreted, and 
which circulate in the body of a mite, must needs con- 
sist of a vast number of particles, or they would not be 
fluids : and an animal might be so much smaller than 
a mite, that its tubes could not contain a suflicient col- 
lection of the atoms of matter, to carry on its functions. 
We should, therefore, of necessity reach a limit of i 
minuteness in organic life, if we could demonstrate ] 
that matter is composed of such indivisible atoms. We ^ 
shall not, however, build anything on this argument ; 
because, though the atomic theory is sometimes said to g 
be proved, what is proved is, that chemical and other I'l 
effects take place as if they were the aggregate of the 
effects of certain particles of different elements, the 4 
joroportions of Avhich particles are fixed and definite; 
but that any limit can be assigned to the smallness of 
these particles, has never yet been made out. We 
prefer, therefore, to rest the -proof of the finite extent of 



MAx's PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. 



247 



animal life, as to size, on the microscopical observations 
previoiisl}^ referred to. 

Probably we cannot yet be said to have reached the 
limit of the universe with the power of our telescoj)es ; 
that is, it does not appear that telescopies have yet been 
used, so powerful in exhibiting small stars, that we can 
assume that more powerful instruments would not dis- 
cover new stars. Whether or no, however, this degree 
of perfection has been reached, we have no proof that 
it does not exist ; if it were once obtained, we should 
have, with some approximation, the limit of the uni- 
verse as to the number of worlds, as we have ah^eady 
endeavoured to show we have obtamed the limits with 
regard to the largeness and smallness of the inhabitants 
of our own world. 

In like manner, although the discovery of new species 
in some of the kingdoms of nature has gone on recently 
with enormous rapidit}^, and to an immense extent ; — 
for instance, in botany, where the species known in the 
time of Linnaeus were about 10,000, and are now above 
100,000 ; — there can be no doubt that the number of 
species and genera is really limited ; and though a 
great extension of om- knowledge is required to reach 
these limits, it is oui* ignorance merely, and not their 
non-existence, which removes them from us. 

In the same way it would appear that the universe, 
so far as it is an object of our Imowledge, is finite in 
other respects also. Now when we have once attained 
this conviction, all the oppressive apprehension of being 
overlooked in the government of the universe has no 
longer any rational soui-ce. For in the superintendence 



248 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of a finite S3^stem of things, what is there which can 
appear difficult or overwhelming to a Being such as we 
must, from what we know, conceive the Creator to be ? 
Difficulties arising from space, number, gradation, are 
such as w^e can conceive ourselves capable of overcoming, 
merely by an extension of our present faculties. Is it 
not then easy to imagine that such difficulties must 
vanish before Him who made us and our faculties ? 
Let it be considered how enormous a proportion the 
largest work of man bears to the smallest ; — the great 
pyramid to the point of a needle. This comparison 
does not overwhelm us, because we know that man has 
made both. Yet the difference between this proportion 
and that of the sun to the claw of a mite, does not at all 
correspond to the difference which we must suppose 
to obtain between the Creator and the creature. It 
appears then that, if the first flash of that view of the 
universe which science reveals to us, does sometimes 
dazzle and bewilder men, a more attentive examination 
of the prospect, by the light w^e thus obtain, shows us 
how unfounded is the despair of our being the objects 
of Divine Providence, how absurd the persuasion that 
we have discovered the universe to be too large for its 
ruler. 

lY. Another ground of satisfactory reflection, having 
the same tendency, is to be found in the admirable 
order and consistency, the subordination and proportion 
of parts, which we find to prevail in the universe, as 
far as our discoveries reach. We have, it may be, a 
multitude almost innumerable of worlds, but no symp- 
tom of crowding, of confusion, of interference. AH 



man's place in the tjniveese. 



249 



such, defects are avoided by the manner in which these 
worlds are distributed into systems ; — these systems, 
each occupying a vast space, but yet disposed at dis- 
tances before which their own dimensions shrink into 
insignificance ; — all governed by one law, yet this law 
so concentrating its operation on each system, that 
each proceeds as if there were no other, and so regu- 
lating its own effects that perpetual change produces 
permanent uniformit}^ This is the kind of harmonious 
relation which we perceive in that part of the universe, 
the mechanical part namely, the laws of which are best 
known to us. In other provinces, where our knowledge 
is more imperfect, we can see glimpses of a similar 
vastness of combination, producing, by its very nature, 
completeness of detail. Any analogy by which we can 
extend such views to the moral world, must be of a 
very wide and indefinite kind ; yet the contemplation 
of this admirable relation of the arrangements of the 
physical creation, and the perfect working of their laws, 
is well calculated to give us confidence in a similar 
beauty and perfection in the arrangements by which 
our moral relations are directed, our higher powers 
and hopes unfolded. We may readily believe that 
there is, in this part of the creation also, an order, a 
subordination of some relations to others, which may 
remove all difiiculty arising from the vast multitude of 
moral agents and actions, and make it possible that 
the superintendence of the moral world shall be directed 
with as exact a tendency to moral good, as that b}^ 
which the government of the physical world is directed 
to physical good. 



250 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS, 



We may perhaps see glimpses of such an order, in 
the arrangements by which our highest and most 
important duties depend upon our relation to a small 
circle of persons immediately around us : and again, 
in the manner in which our acting well or ill results 
from the operation of a few principles withm us ; as 
our conscience, our desu-e of moral excellence, and of 
the favour of God. We can hardly consider such prin- 
ciples otherwise than as intended to occupy their 
proper place in the system by which man's destination 
is to be determined ; and thus, as among the means of 
the government and superintendence of God in the 
moral world. 

That there must be an order and a system to which 
such regulative prmciples belong, the whole analogy of 
creation compels us to beheve. It would be strange 
indeed, if, while the mechanical world, the system of 
inert matter, is so arranged that we cannot contemplate 
its order without an elevated intellectual pleasure ; — 
while organised life has no faculties without their pro- 
per scope, no tendencies without their appointed object; 
— the rational faculties and moral tendencies of man 
should belong to no systematic order, should operate 
with no corresponding purpose : that, while the per- 
ception of sweet and bitter has its acknowledged and 
imquestionable uses, the universal perception of right 
and wrong, the unconquerable belief of the merit of 
certain feelings and actions, the craving alike after 
moral advancement and after the means of attaining it, 
should exist only to delude, perplex, and disappoint 
man. No one, with his contemplations calmed and 



MA^^'S PLACE IN THE UNIVEUSE. 251 

^ i filled and harmonised by the view of the known con- 
stitution of the universe, its machinery " wheeling 
^ unshaken " in the farthest skies and in the darkest 
I cavern, its vital spirit breathing alike effectively in the 
^ veins of the philosopher and the worm ; — no one, under 
s the influence of such a train of contemplations, can 
I possibly admit into his mind a persuasion which makes 
• I the moral part of our nature a collection of inconsistent 
I' j and futile impressions, of idle dreams and warring 
^ opinions, each having the same claims to our accept- 
f ance. Wide as is the distance between the material 
5 j and the moral world; imperfect as all reasonings 
necessarily are which attempt to carry the inferences of 
1 one into the other ; elevated above the region of matter 
f as all the principles and grounds of truth must be, 
5 I which belong to our responsibilities and hopes; still 
f the astronomical and natural philosopher can hardly 
! fail to draw from their studies an imperturbable con- 
viction that our moral nature cannot correspond to 
! those representations according to which it has no law, 
; \ coherency, or object. The mere natural reasoner may, or 
1 i must, stop far short of all that it is his highest interest 
to know, his first duty to pursue ; but even he, if he 
take any elevated and comprehensive views of iiis own 
subject, must escape from the opinions, as unphiloso- 
phical as they are comfortless, which would expel from 
our view of the world all reference to duty and moral 
good, all reliance on the most universal grounds of 
trust and hope. 

Men's belief of their duty, and of the reasons for 
s practising it, connected as it is with the conviction of a 



252 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



personal relation to their Maker, and of His power of 
superintendence and reward, is as manifest a fact in 
the moral, as any that can be pointed out is in the 
natural world. By the mere analogy which has been 
intimated, therefore, we cannot but conceive that this 
fact belongs in some manner or other to the order of 
the moral world, and of its government. 

When any one acknowledges a moral governor of the 
world ; perceives that domestic and social relations are 
perpetually operating and seem intended to operate, to 
retain and direct men in the ' path of duty ; and feels 
that the voice of conscience, the peace of heart which 
results from a course of virtue, and the consolations of 
devotion, are ever ready to assume their office as our 
guides and aids in the conduct of all our actions ; — he 
will probably be willing to acknowledge also that the 
means of a moral government of each individual are 
not wanting; and will no longer be oppressed or 
disturbed by the apprehension that the superin- 
tendence of the world ma}^ be too difficult for its 
Kuler, and that any of His subjects and servants may 
be overlooked. He will no more fear that the moral 
than that the physical laws of God's creation should be 
forgotten in any particular case : and as he knows that 
every sparrow which falls to the ground contains in its 
structure innumerable marks of the Divine care and 
kindness, he will be persuaded that every man, however 
apparently humble and insignificant, will have his 
moral being dealt with according to the laws of God's 
wisdom and love ; will be enlightened, supported, and 
raised, if he use the appointed means which God's 



LAW IMPLIES MIND. 253 

administration of tlie world of moral light and good 
offers to his use. 

Chap. IV. — On the Impression produced ly the Contemplation of Laivs 
of Nature ; or on the Conviction that Law implies Mind. 

The various trains of thought and reasoning which 
lead men from a consideration of the natural world to 
the conviction of the existence, the power, the provi- 
dence of God, do not require, for the most part, any 
long or laboured deduction, to give them their effect on 
the mind. On the contrary, they have, in every age 
and country, produced their impression on multitudes 
who have not instituted any formal reasonings upon 
the subject, and probably upon many who have not put 
their conclusions in the shape of any express proposi- 
tions. The persuasion of a superior intelligence and 
will, which manifests itself in every part of the material 
world, is, as is well known, so widely diffused and 
deeply infixed, as to have made it a question among 
speculative men whether the notion of such a power is 
not universal and innate. It is our business to show 
only how plainly and how universally such a belief 
results from the study of the appearances about us. 
That in many nations, in many periods, this persuasion 
has been mixed up with much that was erroneous and 
perverse in the opinions of the intellect or the fictions 
of the fancy, does not weaken the force of such consent. 
The belief of a supernatural and presiding power runs 
through all these errors : and while the perversions are 
manifestly the work of caprice and illusion, and vanish 



254 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



at tlie first ray of sober inquiry, the belief itself is 
substantial and consistent, and grows in strength upon 
every new examination. It was the firmness and 
solidity of the conviction of sometliing Divine which 
gave a hold and permanence to the figments of so 
many false divinities. And those who have traced the 
progress of human thought on other subjects, will not 
think it strange, that while the fundamental persuasion 
of a Deity was thus irremovably seated in the human 
mind, the development of this conception into a con- 
sistent, pure, ancj steadfast belief in one Almighty and 
Holy Father and God, should be long missed, or never 
attained, by the struggle of the human faculties ; should 
requii-e long reflection to mature it, and the aid of 
revelation to establish it in the w^orld. 

The view of the universe which we have principally 
had occasion to i^resent to the reader, is that in which 
we consider its appearances as reducible to certain 
fixed and general laws. Availing ourselves of some 
of the Hghts which modern science supplies, we have 
endeavoured to show that the adaptation of such laws 
to each other, and their fitness to promote the harmo- 
nious and beneficial com^se of the world, may be traced, 
wherever we can discover the laws themselves; and 
that the conceptions of the Divine Power, Goodness 
and Superintendence which we thus form, agree in a 
remarkable manner with the views of the Supreme 
Being, to which reason, enlightened by the divine 
revelation, has led. 

But we conceive that the general impressions of 
mankind would go further than a mere assent to the 



LAW IMPLIES ]MIND. 



255 



argiimeut as we have thus stated it. To most persons 
it appears that the mere existence of a law connecting 
and governing any class of phenomena, implies a 
presiding intelHgence wliich has preconceived and 
established the law. When events are reg\ilated by 
precise rules of time and space, of number and mea- 
sure, men conceive these rules to be the evidence of 
thought and mind, even without discovering in the 
rules any peculiar adaptations, or without supposing 
their purpose to be known. 

The origin and the validity of such an impression on 
the human mind may appear to some matters of abstruse 
and doubtful speculation : yet the tendency to such a 
belief prevails strongly and widely, both among the 
common class of minds whose thoughts are casually 
and unsystematic ally turned to such subjects, and 
among philosophers to whom laws of nature are habi- 
tual subjects of contemplation. We conceive therefore 
that such a tendency may desei've to be briefly illus- 
trated ; and we trust also that some attention to tliis 
point may be of service in throwing light upon the true 
relation of the study of nature to the belief in God. 

I. A very shght attention shows us how readily order 
and regularity suggest to a common apprehension the 
operation of a calm and untroubled intelligence presiding 
over the com'se of events. Thus the materialist poet, 
in accounting for the belief in the Gods, though he 
does not share it, cannot deny the habitual effect of 
this manifestation. 

Praeterea coeli rationes ordine certo 

Et mria annomm cernebant tempora vorti 



256 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



Nee poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere caussis. 
Ergo perfugiam sibi habebant omnia Divis 
Tradere et illorum nutu facere omnia flecti. 

LUCRET. V. 1182. 

They saw the skies in constant order run, 
The varied seasons and the circling sun, 
Apparent rule, with unapparent cause, 
And thus they sought in Gods the source of laws. 

The same feeling may be traced in tlie early mytho- 
logy of a large portion of the globe. We might easily, 
taking advantage of the labours of learned men, exem- 
plify this in the case of the oriental nations of Greece, 
and of many other countries. Nor does there appear 
much difficulty in pointing out the error of those who 
have maintained that all religion had its origin in the 
■worship of the stars and the elements ; and who have 
insinuated that all such impressions are unfounded, 
inasmuch as these are certainly not right objects of 
human worship. The religious feeling, the conviction 
of a supernatural power, of an intelligence connecting 
and dii'ecting the phenomena of the world, had not its 
origin in the worship of sun, or stars, or elements ; but 
was itself the necessary though unexpressed foundation 
of all worship, and all forms of false, as well as true, 
religion. The contemplation of the earth and heavens 
called into action this religious tendency in man ; and 
to say that the worship of the material world formed or 
suggested this religious feeling, is to invert the order 
of possible things in the most unphilosophical manner. 
Idolatry is not the source of the belief in God, but 
is a compomid of the i)ersuasion of a supernatural 



LAW IMPLIES MIND. 



257 



government, with certain extravagant and baseless con- 
ceptions, as to the manner in which this government 
is exercised. 

"We will quote a passage from an author who has 
illustrated at considerable length the hypothesis that 
all religious belief is derived from the worshij) of the 
elements. 

" Light, and darkness its perpetual contrast ; the 
succession of days and nights, the periodical order of 
the seasons ; the career of the brilliant luminary which 
regulates their course ; that of the moon, his sister and 
rival ; night, and the innumerable fires which she 
lights in the blue vault of heaven ; the revolutions of 
the stars, which exhibit them for a longer or a shorter 
period above our horizon ; the constancy of this period 
in the fixed stars, its variety in the wandering stars, 
the planets ; their direct and retrograde course, their 
momentary rest ; the phases of the moon waxing, full, 
waning, divested of all light ; the progressive motion of 
the sun upwards, downwards ; the successive order of 
the rising and setting of the fixed stars, which mark the 
different points of the course of the sun, while the 
various aspects which the earth itself assumes, mark, 
here below also, the same periods of the sun's annual 
motion; .... all these different pictures, displayed 
before the eyes of man, form the great and magnificent 
spectacle by which I suppose him surrounded at the 
moment when he is about to create his gods'' * 

What is this (divested of its wanton levity of expres- 
sion) but to say, that when man has so far traced the 

* Dupuip, Origine des Cultes. 

s 



25S 



EELTGIOTJS VIEWS. 



course of nature as to be irresistibl}' impressed with 
tlie existence of order, law, variety in constancy, and 
fixity in change ; of relations of form and space, dui'a- 
tion and succession, cause and consequence, among the 
objects which surround him; there springs up in his 
breast, unbidden and irresistibly, the thought of super- 
intending intelligence — of a mind which comprehended 
from the first, and completely, that which he late and 
partially comes to know ? The worship of earth and 
sky, of the liost of heaven and the influences of nature, 
is not the ultimate and fundamental fact in the early 
history of the religious impressions of mankind. These 
are but derivative streams, impure and scanty, from 
the fountain of religious feehng, wliich appears to be 
disclosed to us by the contemplation of the universe 
as the seat of law and the manifestation of intellect. 
Time suggests to man the thought of eternity ; space, 
of infinity ; law, of intelligence ; order, of purpose ; and 
however difficult and long a task it may be to develope 
these suggestions into clear convictions, these thoughts 
are the real parents of our natural religious belief. 
The only relation between true religion and the wor- 
ship of the elemental world is, that the latter is the 
partial and gross perversion, the former the consistent 
and pure developement of the same original idea. 

II. The connexion of the laws of the material world 
with an intelligence wliich preconceived and instituted 
the law, which is thus, as we perceive, so generally 
impressed on the common apprehension of mankind, 
has also struck no less those who have studied nature 
with a more systematic attention, and with the peculiar 



LAW IMPLIES MI:ND. 



259 



views which belong to science. The laws which such 
persons learn and study, seem, indeed, most naturally 
to lead to the conviction of an intelligence which ori- 
ginally gave to each law its form. 

Y\^hat we call a general law is, in truth, a form of 
expression including a number of facts of like kind. 
The facts are separate ; the unity of view by which we 
associate them, the character of generality and of law, 
I resides in those relations which are the object of the 
j; intellect. The law once apprehended by us, takes in 
I our minds the place of the facts themselves, and is said 
|{ to govern or determine them, because it determines 
1 our anticipations of what they will be. But we can- 
\ not, it would seem, conceive a law, founded on such 
j intelligible relations, to govern and determine the facts 
i| themselves, any otherwise than by supposing also an 
! intelligence by which these relations are contemplated, 
jj and these consequences reahsed. We cannot then 
represent to ourselves the universe governed by general 
i laws, otherwise than by conceiving an intelligent and 
; conscious Deity, by wdiom these laws v,^ere originally 
; contemplated, established, and applied. 
I This perhaps will appear more clear, when it is 
considered that the laws of which we speak are often 
j of an abstruse and complex kind, depending upon 
! relations of space, time, number, and other properties, 
which we perceive by great attention and thought. 
These relations are often combined so variously and 
curiously, that the most subtle reasonings and calcu- 
lations which we can form are requisite, in order to 
trace their results. Can such laws be conceived to 

s 2 



260 



llELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



"be instituted without aii}^ exercise of knowledge and 
intelligence ? can material objects apply geometry and 
calculation to themselves ? can tlie lenses of tlie eye, 
for instance, be formed and adjusted with an exact 
suitableness to their refractive powers, Avhile there is 
in the agency which has framed them no consciousness 
of the laws of light, of the course of rays, of the visible 
properties of things ? This appears to be altogether 
inconceivable. 

Every particle of matter possesses an almost endless 
train of properties, each acting according to its peculiar 
and fixed laws. For every atom of the same kind of 
matter, these laws are invariably and perpetually the 
same ; while for different kinds of matter, the difference 
of these properties is equally constant. This constant 
and precise resemblance, this variation equally constant 
and equally regular, suggest irresistibly the conception 
of some cause, independent of the atoms themselves, hy 
which their similarit}^ and dissimilarity, the agreement 
and difference of their deportment under the same 
circumstances, liave been determined. Such a view of 
the constitution of matter, as is observed by an eminent 
writer of our own time, effectually destroys the idea of 
its eternal and self - existent nature, "by giving to 
each of its atoms the essential cliaracters, at once, of a 
manufactured article, and a suhordinate agent."* 

That such an impression, and the consequent belief 
in a divine Author of the universe, by whom its laws 
were ordained and established, does result from the 
philosophical contemplation of nature, will, we trust, 

* Herschel on the Study of Nat. Phil., Art 28. 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



261 



become still more evident by tracing tlie effect produced 
upon men's minds by the discovery of such laws and 
properties as those of which we have been speaking ; 
and we shall therefore make a few observations on this 
subject. 

Chap. V. — On Inductive Habits ; or, on the Impression produced on 
Mens minds by discovering Laws of Nature. 

The object of physical science is to discover such 
laws and properties as those of which we have spoken 
in the last chapter. In this task, undoubtedly a pro- 
gress has been made on which we may well look with 
pleasure and admiration; yet we cannot hesitate to 
confess that the extent of our knowledge on such 
subjects bears no proportion to that of our ignorance. 
Of the great and comprehensive laws which rule over 
the widest provinces of natural phenomena, few have 
yet been disclosed to us. And the names of the 
philosoxDhers, whose high office it has been to detect 
such laws, are even yet far from numerous. In looking 
back at the path by which science has advanced to its 
present position, we see the names of the great dis- 
coverers shine out like luminaries, few and scattered 
along the line : by far the largest portion of the space 
is occupied by those whose comparatively humble 
office it was to verif}^, to develope, to apply the general 
truths which the discoverers brought to light. 

It will readily be conceived that it is no easy matter, 
if it be possible, to analyse the process of thought by 
which laws of nature have thus been discovered; a 
process wliich, as we have said, has been in so few 



2G2 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



instances successful!}^ performed. We shall not here 
make any attempt at such an analysis. But without 
tliis, we conceive it may be shown that the constitution 
and employment of the mind on wliich such discoveries 
depend, are friendly to that belief in a wise and good 
Creator and Governor of the world, which it has been 
our object to illustrate and confirm. And if it should 
appear that those who see further than their fellows 
into the bearings and dependencies of the material 
things and elements by which they are surrounded, 
have also been, in almost eYeij case, earnest and 
forward m aclmowledging the relation of all things to 
a supreme intelligence and will, we shall be fortified 
in our persuasion that the true scientific perception 
of the general constitution of the universe, and of the 
mode m which events are produced and connected, is 
fitted to lead us to the conception and belief of God. 

Let us consider for a moment what takes x>lace in 
the mmd of a student of nature when he attains to the 
perception of a law previously unknown, comiecting 
the appearances which he has studied. A mass of 
facts which before seemed incoherent and unmeaning, 
assume, on a sudden, the aspect of connexion and 
intelligible order. Tims, when Kepler discovered the 
law which connects the periodic times with the 
diameters of the planetary orbits ; or, when Newton 
showed how this and all other known mathematical 
properties of the solar system were included m the law 
of universal gravitation according to the inverse square 
of the distance; particular circumstances which, before, 
were merely matter of independent record, became, 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



263 



from tliat time, inclissolublj conjoined by the laws so 
discovered. The separate occmTences and facts, which 
might hitherto have seemed casual and without reason, 
were now seen to be all exemplifications of the same 
truth. The change is like that wdiich takes place when 
we attempt to read a sentence written in difficult or 
•imperfect characters. For a time the separate parts 
ai)pear to be disjoined and arbitrary marks ; the 
suggestions of possible meanings, which succeed each 
other in the mind, fail, as fast as they are tried, in 
combining, or accounting for, these symbols : but at last 
the true supposition occurs ; some words are found to 
coincide witli the meaning thus assumed ; the wdiole 
line of letters appear to take definite shapes and to 
leap into their proper places ; and the truth of the 
happy conjecture seems to flash upon us from every 
part of the inscri2)tion. 

The discovery of laws of nature, truly and satisfac- 
torily connecting and explaining phenomena, of which, 
before, the connexion and causes had been unknown, 
displaj^s much of a similar process, of obscurity 
succeeded by evidence, of effort and perplexity fol- 
lowed by conviction and repose. The innumerable 
conjectures and failures, the glimpses of light per- 
petually opening and as often clouded over, b}^ wdiich 
Kepler w^as tantalised, the unwearied perseverance 
and inexhaustible ingenuity which he exercised, while 
seeking for the laws which he finally discovered, are, 
thanks to his communicative disposition, curiously 
exhibited in his works, and have been narrated by his 
biographers; and such efforts and alternations, modified 



264 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



by character and circumstances, must generally precede 
the detection of any of the wider laws and dependencies 
by which the events of the universe are regulated. We 
may readily conceive the satisfaction and delight with 
which, after this perplexity and struggle, the discoverer 
finds himself in light and tranquillity ; able to look at 
the provmce of nature ^vhich has been the subject of 
his study, and to read there an intelligible connexion, 
a sufficing reason, which no one before him had under- 
stood or apprehended. 

Tliis step so much resembles the mode in which 
one intelligent being understands and apprehends the 
conceptions of another, that we cannot be surprised if 
those persons in whose minds such a process has 
taken place, have been most ready to acknowledge the 
existence and operation of a superintending intelligence, 
whose ordinances it was their employment to study. 
When they had just read a sentence of the table of the 
laws of the universe, they could not doubt whether it 
had had a legislator. When they had decyphered 
there a comprehensive and substantial truth, they 
could not beheve that the letters had been thrown 
together by chance. They could not but readily 
acknowledge that what their faculties had enabled 
them to read, must have been written by some higher 
and profounder mmd. And accordingl}^, we conceive 
it will be found, on examming the works of those to 
whom we owe our knowledge of the laws of nature, and 
especially of the wider and more comprehensive laws, 
that such persons have been strongly and habitually 
impressed with the loersuasion of a Divine Pur2)ose 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



265 



and Power which had regulated the events which they 
had attended to, and ordained the laws which they had 
detected. 

To those who have pursued science without reaching 
the rank of discoverers ; — who have possessed a deri- 
vative knowledge of the laws of nature which others 
had disclosed, and have employed themselves in tracing 
the consequences of such laws, and systematising the 
body of truth thus produced, the above description 
does not apply; and we have not therefore m these 
cases the same ground for anticipating the same frame 
of mind. If among men of science of this class, the 
persuasion of a supreme IntelHgence has at some 
periods been less vivid and less universal, than in that 
higher class of which we have before spoken, the fact, 
so far as it has existed, may perhaps be in some degree 
accounted for. But whether the view which we have 
to give of the mental peculiarities of men whose science 
is of this derivative kind be well founded, and whether 
the account we have above offered of that which takes 
place in the minds of original discoverers of laws in 
scientific researches be true or not, it will probably be 
considered a matter of some interest to point out 
historically that, in fact, such discoverers have been 
peculiarly in the habit of considering the world as the 
work of God. This we shall now proceed to do. 

As we have already said, the names of great dis- 
coverers are not very numerous. The sciences which 
we may look upon as having reached or, at least, 
approached their complete and finished form, are 
Mechanics, Hydrostatics, and Physical Astronomy. 



266 



llELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



Galileo is the father of modern Mechanics ; Copernicus, 
Ivepler, and Newton are the great names which mark 
the progress of Astronom3^ Hydrostatics shared in a 
great measure the fortunes of the related science of 
Mechanics ; Boyle and Pascal were the persons mainly 
active in developing its more peculiar principles. The 
other branches of knowledge which belong to natural 
philosophy, as Chemistr}^ and Meteorology, are as yet 
imperfect, and perhaps infant sciences ; and it would 
be rasli to presume to select m them, names of equal 
pre-eminence with those above mentioned : but it may 
not be diiiicult to show, with sufficient evidence, that 
the eiBfect of science upon the authors of science is, in 
these subjects as in the former ones, far other than to 
alienate then* minds from religious trains of thought, 
and a habit of considering the world as the work of God. 

AVe shall mA dwell much on the first of the above- 
mentioned great names, Galileo ; for his scientific merit 
consisted ratlier in adopting the sound philosophy of 
others, as in the case of the Copernican system, and 
in combating prevalent errors, as in the case of the 
Aristotelian doctrines concerning motion, than in any 
marked and prominent discovery of new prmciples. 
Moreover, the mechanical laws which he had a share 
in brmging to light — depending, as they did, rather on 
detached experiments and transient facts than on 
observation of the general course of the universe — 
could not so clearly suggest any reflection on the 
government of the world at that period, as they did 
afterwards when Newton showed their bearing on 
the cosmical system. Yet Galileo, as a man of 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



267 



philosophical and inventive mind, who produced a great 
effect on the progress of physical knowledge, is a 
person whose opinions must naturally interest us, 
engaged in our present course of reasoning. There is 
in his writmgs little which bears upon rehgious views, 
as there is in the nature of his works httle to lead him 
to such subjects. Yet strong expressions of piet}^ are 
not wantmg, both in his letters and in his published 
treatises. The persecution which he underwent, on 
account of his writings in favour of the Copernican 
system, was grounded, not on his opposition to the 
general truths of natural religion, which is our main 
concern at present, nor even on any supposed rejection 
of any articles of Christian faith, but on the alleged 
discrepancy between his adopted astronomical views 
and the declarations of Scripture. Some of his remarks 
may interest the reader. 

In his third dialogue on the Copernican system he 
has occasion to speak of the opinion which holds all 
parts of the world to be framed for man's use alone : 
and to this he says, " I would that we should not so 
shorten the arm of God in the government of human 
affairs ; but that we should rest in this, that we are 
certain that God and nature are so occupied in the 
government of human affairs, that they could not more 
attend to us if they were charged with the care of the 
human race alone." In the same spirit, when some 
objected to the asserted smallness of the Medicean 
stars, or satellites of Jupiter, and urged this as a reason 
why they were unworthy the regard of philosophers, he 
replied that they are the works of God's power, the 



268 



KELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



objects of His care, and therefore may well be con- 
sidered as sublime subjects for man's study. 

In the Dialogues on Mechanics, there occur those 
observations concerning the use of the air-bladder in 
Ushes, and concerning the adaptation of the size of 
animals to the strength of the materials of which they 
are framed, which have often since been adopted by|: 
writers on the wisdom of Providence. The last of tliel : 
dialogues on the system of the world is closed by af i 
religious reflection, put in the mouth of the interlocutor 
who usually expresses Galileo's own opinions. " AVliile I 
it is permitted us to speculate concerning the constitu- ; 
tion of the world, we are also taught (perhaps in order 
tliat tlie activity of the human mind may not pause or |! 
languish) that our powers do not enable us to compre- - 
hend the works of His hands. May success therefore i 
attend this intellectual exercise, thus permitted and j| 
appointed for us; by which we recognise and admire 
the greatness of God the more, in proportion as w^e find U 
ourselves the less able to penetrjite the profound abysses \] 
of his wisdom." And tliat this train of thought was . 
habitual to the philosopher we liave abundant evidence i 
in many other parts of his writings. He had already [ 
said in the same dialogue, "Nature (or God, as he 
elsewhere speaks) employs means in an admirable and 
inconceivable manner; admirable, that is, and incon- 
ceivable to us, but not to her, who brmgs about with ' 
consummate facility and simplicity things which affect | 
our intellect with infinite astonishment. That which ; 
is to us most difhcult to understand is to her most easy .! 
to execute." ■ 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



269 



The establisliment of the Copernican and Newtonian 
views of the [motions of the solar system and their 
causes, were probably the occasions on which religious 
but unphilosophical men entertained the strongest 
apprehensions that the belief in the government of 
God may be weakened when we thus "thrust some 
mechanic cause into his place." It is therefore fortu- 
nate that we can show, not only that this ought not to 
occur, from the reason of the thing, but also that in 
ifact the persons who are the leading characters in the 
progress of these opinions were men of clear and 
fervent piety. 

In the case of Copernicus himself it does not appear 
that, originally, any apprehensions were enter tamed of 
any dangerous discrepancy between his doctrines and 
the truths of religion, either natural or revealed. The 
iwork which contains these memorable discoveries was 
addressed to Pope Paul III., the head, at that time 
(1543), of the religious world ; and was pubHshed, as 
the author states in the preface, at the urgent entreaty 
of friends, one of whom was a cardinal, and another a 
Ibishop.* " I know," he says, " that the thoughts of a 
philosopher are far removed from the judgment of the 
vulgar ; since it is his study to search out truth in all 
things, as far as that is permitted by God to human 

* Amici me cunctantem atque etiam reluctantem, retraxerunt, inter 
' quos primvis fuit Nicolaus Schonbergius, Cardinalis Capuaniis, in omni 
genere literai'um Celebris ; proxinms ille vir mei amantissimus Tide- 
mannus Gisius, Episcopus Culmensis, sacrarum ut est et omnium 
bonarum literarum studiosissimus. — Dc Eevolutionibus. Prcef. ad 
Paulum III. 



270 



HELIGIOUS VIEAVS. 



reason." And tliougli the doctrines are for tlie most 
l^art stated as portions of a mathematical calcination, 
the explanation of the arrangement by which the sun is 
placed in the centre of the sj^stem is accompanied by a 
natural reflection of a religious cast : " Who in this fair 
temple would place tliis lamp in any other or better 
place than tliere whence it may illmninate the whole ? 
We find then under this ordination an admirable 
symmetr}' of the world, and a certain harmonious 
connexion of the motion and magnitude of the orbs, 
sucli as in any other way cannot be found. Hius the 
progressions and regressions c>f the planets all arise 
from the same cause, the motion of the earth. And 
that no sucli movements are seen in the fixed stars, 
argues their immense distance from us, which causes 
the apparent magnitude of the earth's annual course to 
become evanescent. So great, in short, is this divine 
fabric of the great and good God ; " * " this best and 
most regular artificer of the universe," as he elsevvdiere 
speaks. 

Kepler was the person, who by further studying " the 
connexion of the motions and magnitude of the orbs," 
to which Copernicus had thus drawn the attention of 
astronomers, detected the laws of this connexion, and 
prepared the way for the discovery, by Newton, of the 
mechanical laws and causes of such motions. Kepler 
was a man of strong and lively piety ; and the exhorta- 
tion wliich he addresses to his reader before entering 
on the exposition of some of his discoveries, may be 
quoted not only for its earnestness but its reasonable- 

* Lib. i., ex. 1 



INDUCTIVE H^kBITS. 



271 



ness also. — " I beseech my reader, that not iinminclfnl 
of the divine goodness bestowed on man, he do with 
me praise and celebrate the wisdom and greatness of 

! the Creator, which I open to him from a more inward 
explication of the form of the world, from a searching 
of causes, from a detection of the errors of vision : and 
that thus, not only in the firmness and stability of the 

' earth he perceive with gratitude the preservation of all 
living things in nature as the gift of God, but also that 
in its motion, so recondite, so admirable, he acknow- 
ledge the wisdom of the Creator. But him who is too 
dull to receive this science, or too weak to believe the 
Copernican system without harm to his piety, him, I 
say, I advise that, leaving the school of astronomy, and 
condemning, if he please, any doctrines of the philo- 
sophers, he follow his own path, and desist from this 
wandering through the universe, and lifting up his 
natural eyes, with which alone he can see, pour himself 
out from his own heart in praise of God the Creator ; 
being certain that he gives no less worship to God than 
the astronomer, to whom God has given to see more 
clearly with his inward eye, and who, for what he has 
himself discovered, both can and will glorify God." 

I The next great step in our knowledge of the universe, 

I the discovery of the mechanical causes by which its 
motions are produced, and of their laws, has in modern 
times sometimes been supposed, both by the friends of 
religion and by others, to be unfavourable to the im- 
pression of an intelligent First Cause. That such a 
supposition is founded in error we have offered what 
appear to us insurmountable reasons for believing. 



272 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



That in the mind of the gTeat discoverer of tliis me- 
chanical cause, Newton, the impression of a creating 
and presiding Deity was confirmed, not shaken, by all 
his discoveries, is so well known that it is almost 
superfluous to insist upon the fact. His views of the 
tendency of science invested it with no dangers of this 
kind. " The business of natural philosophy is," he 
says, (Optics, Qu. 28,) " to argue from phenomena 
without feigning hj-potheses, and to deduce causes from 
efi'ects, till we come to the very first cause, which cer- 
tainly is not mechanical." " Though every true step 
made in this philosophy brings us not immediately to 
the knowledge of the first cause, yet it brings us nearer 
to it, and is on that account highly to be valued." The 
Scholium, or note, which concludes his great work, the 
Principia, is a well-kno^vn and most striking evidence 
on this point, This beautiful system of sun, i)lanets 
and comets, could have its origin in no other way than 
by tlie purpose and command of an intelligent and 
powerful Being. He governs all things, not as the soul 
of tlie world, but as the lord of the universe. He is 
not only God, but Lord or Governor. We know him 
only by his properties and attributes, by the wise and 
admii'able structure of things around us, and by their 
final causes ; we admire hiin on account of his perfec- 
tions, we venerate and worship him on account of his 
government." 

Without making any further quotations, it must be 
evident to the reader that the succession of great 
philosophers through whom mankind have been led 
to the knowledge of the greatest of scientific truths, the 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



273 



law of universal gravitation, did, for their parts, see 
I the truths which they disclosed to men in such a light 
i| that their rehgious feelings, their reference of the world 
j to an intelligent Creator and Preserver, their admira- 
i tion of his attributes, were exalted rather than impaired 

by the insight which they obtained into the structure of 

the universe. 

Having shown this with regard to the most perfect 
portion of human knowdedge, our knowledge of the 
motions of the solar system, we shall adduce a few 

I other passages, illustrating the prevalence of the same 
fact in other departments of experimental science ; 

j although, for reasons which have already been inti- 
mated, we conceive that sciences of experiment do not 
conduct so obviously as sciences of observation to 
the impression of a Divine Legislator of the material 
world. 

The science of Hydrostatics was constructed in a 
|| great measure by the founders of the sister science of 
Mechanics. Of those who were employed in experi- 
mentally establishing the principles pecuharly belonging 
to the doctrine of fluids, Pascal and Boyle are two of 
1 the most eminent names. That these two great philo- 
sophers were not only religious, but both of them 
remarkable for their fervent and pervading devotion, 
is too well known to be dwelt on. With regard to 
Pascal, however, we ought not perhaps to pass over an 
opinion of his, that the existence of God cannot be 
proved from the external world. "I do not undertake 
j to prove this," says he, " not only because I do not feel 
I myself sufficiently strong to find in nature that which 

T 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



shall conviiice obstinate atheists, but because such 
knowledge without Jesus Christ is useless and sterile." 
It is obvious that such a state of mind would prevent 
this writer from encouraging or dwelHng upon the 
grounds of natural religion ; while yet he liimseK is 
an example of that which we wish to illustrate, that 
those who have obtained the furthest insight into 
nature, have been in all ages firm believers in God. 
" Nature," he says in another place, has perfections 
in order to show that slie is the image of God, and 
defects in order to show that she is only his image." * 

Boyle was not onty a most pious man as well as a 
gi'eat philosopher, but he exerted himself very often 
and earnestly in his ^Titmgs to show the bearing of his 
natui'al philosophy upon his views of the divine attri- 
butes, and of the government of the world. Many of 
these dissertations convey trains of thought and rea- 
soning which have never been surpast for their combi- 
nation of judicious sobriet}' in not pressing his 
arguments too far, with fervent devotion in his con- 
ceptions of the Divine nature. As examples of these 
merits, we might adduce almost any portion of his 
tracts on these subjects ; for instance, his " Inquiry 
into the Final Causes of Natural Things ; " his " Free 
Inquiry into the Vulgar Notion of Natm-e ; " his 
" Cluistian Virtuoso ; " and his Essay entititled " The 
High Veneration Man's Intellect owes to God." It 
would be superfluous to quote at any length from these 
works. We may observe, however, that he notices 
that general fact which we are at present employed in 

* Pensees, Art. viii., 1. ^ 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



275 



exemplifjdng, that " in almost all ages and countries 
the generality of philosophers and contemplative men 
were persuaded of the existence of a Deity from the 
consideration of the phenomena of the universe ; whose 
fabric and conduct they rationally concluded could not 
Ijustly be ascribed either to chance or to any other 
cause than a Divine Being." And in speaking of the 
religious uses of science, he says : " Though I am 
willing to grant that some impressions of God's 
wisdom are so conspicuous that even a superficial 
philosopher may thence infer that the author of such 
works must be a wise agent ; yet how wise an agent he 
has in these works expressed himself to be, none but 
an experimental philosopher can well discern. And 
'tis not by a slight survey, but by a diligent and sldlful 
scrutiny, of the works of God, that a man must be, by 
a rational and affective conviction, engaged to acknow- 
ledge that the author of nature ' is wonderful in counsel, 
and excellent in working.' " 

After the mechanical properties of fluids, the laws of 
the operation of the chemical and physical properties 
of the elements about us, offer themselves to our notice. 
: The relations of heat and of moisture in particular, 
i which play so important a part, as we have seen, in the 
economy of our world, have been the subject of various 
researches ; and they have led to views of the operation 
of such agents, some of which we have endeavoured to 
present to the reader, and to point out the remarkable 
arrangements by which their beneficial operation is 
carried on. That the discoverers of the laws by which 
such operations are regulated, were not insensible to 



276 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



the persuasion of a Divine care and contrivance wliick 
those arrangements suggest, is what we should expect, 
in agreement with what we have ah'eady said, and it is 
what we find. Among the names of the philosophers 
to whom we owe om* knowledge on these suhjects, 
there are none gi'eater than those of Black, the dis- 
coverer of tlie laws of latent heat, and Dalton,who first 
gave us a true view of the mode in which water}^ vapour 
exists and operates in the atmosphere. With regartl id 
the former of these philosophers, we shall quote Dr. 
Thomson's account of the views which the laws of 
latent heat suggested to the discoverer.* " Dr. Black 
quickly perceived the vast importance of this discovery, 
and took a pleasure in laying before his students a 
view of the beneficial effects of this habitude of heat in 
the economy of nature. During the summer season a 
vast magazine of heat is accumulated in the water, 
which by gradually emerging during congelation serves 
to temper the cold of winter. Were it not for this 
accumulation of heat in water and other bodies, the 
sun would no sooner go a few degrees to the south of 
the equator tliau we should feel all the horrors of 
winter." 

In the same spirit are Mr. Dalton's reflections, after 
pointing out the laws which regulate the balance of 
evaporation and rain,f which he himself first clearly 
explained. " It is scarcely possible," says he, " to 
contemplate without admiration the beautiful system 
of nature by wliich the surface of the earth is con- 



* Thomson's Hist, of Chemistry, vol. i., p. 321. 
t Manch. Mem., vol. v., p. 346. 



INDUCTIVE HABITS. 



277 



tinually supplied with water, and that unceptsing 
circulation of a £.md so essentially necessary to the 
very being of the animal and vegetable kingdom takes 
place." 

Such impressions appear thus to rise irresistibly in 
the breasts of men, when they obtain a sight, for the 
I first time, of the varied play and comprehensive con- 
nexions of the laws by which the business of the material 
[world is carried on and its occurrences are brought to 
I pass. To dwell upon or develope such reflections is 
pot here our business. Their general prevalence in 
jthe minds of those to whom these first views of new 
[truths are granted, has been, we trust, sufficiently 
illustrated. Nor are the names adduced above, distin- 
guished as they are, brought forward as authorities 
imerely. We do not claim for the greatest discoverers 
i jin the realms of science any immunity from error. In 
pieir general opinions they may, as others may, judge 
or reason ill. The articles of their religious belief may 
be as easily and as widely as those of other men, 
imperfect, perverted, unprofitable. But on this one 
point, the tendency of our advances in the scientific 
knowledge of the universe to lead us up to a belief in a 
most wise maker and master of the universe, we conceive 
that they who make these advances, and who feel, as an 
original impression, that which others feel only by 
receiving and teaching, must be looked to with a 
peculiar attention and respect. And what their 
impressions have commonly been, we have thus 
endeavoured to show. 



278 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



Chap. VI. — On Deduct kc Habits; or, on the Impression produced on 
Men's dliiids hy tracing the consequences of ascertained Laios. 

The opinion illustrated in tlie last chapter, tliat the 
advances which men make in science tend to impress 
upon them the reality of the Divine government of the 
world, lias often heen controverted. Complaints have 
been made, and especially of late years, that the 
growtli of piety has not always been commensurate 
with the growth of knowledge, in the minds of those 
who make nature their study. Views of an irreligious 
chai-acter have been entertained, it is sometimes said, 
by persons eminently well instructed in all the dis- 
coveries of modern times, no less than by the superficial 
and ignorant. Those who liave been supposed to deny 
or to doubt the existence, the providence, the attributes 
of God, have in many cases been men of considerable 
eminence and celebrity for their attainments in science. 
The opinion that this is the case appears to be exten- 
sively diffused, and this persuasion has probably often 
in'oduced inquietude and grief in the breasts of pious 
and benevolent men. 

This opinion, concerning the want of religious con- 
victions among those who have made natural philosophy 
theii* leading pursuit, has probably gone far beyond 
the limits of the real fact. But if we allow that there 
are any strong cases to countenance such an opinion, it 
may be worth our while to consider how far they admit 
of any satisfactory explanation. The fact aj)pears at 
first sicfht to be at variance with the view we have 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



279 



given of the impression produced by scientific dis- 
covery ; and it is moreover always a matter of uneasi- 
ness and regret, to have men of eminent talents and 
knowledge opposed to doctrines which we consider as 
important truths. 

We conceive that an explanation of such cases, if 
they should occur, may be found in a very curious and 
important circumstance belonging to the process by 
which our physical sciences are formed. The first 
discovery of new general truths, and the development 
of these truths when once obtained, are two operations 
extremely different — imply different mental habits, and 
may easily be associated with different views and con- 
victions on points out of the reach of scientific demon- 
stration. There would therefore be nothing surprising, 
1 or inconsistent with what we have maintained above, 
i if it should appear that while original discoverers of 
laws of nature are peculiarly led, as we have seen, to 
believe the existence of a supreme intelligence and 
purpose; the far greater number of cultivators of 
science, whose employment it is to learn from others 
these general laws, and to trace, combine, and apply 
their consequences, should have no clearness of con- 
viction or security from error on this subject, beyond 
what belongs to persons of any other class. 

This will, perhaps, become somewhat more evident 
by considermg a little more closely the distinction of 
the two operations of discovery and development, of 
v/hich we have spoken above, and the tendency which 
: the habitual prosecution of them may be expected to 
produce in the thoughts and views of the student. 



280 



llELIGIOUS VIE\VS. 



We have already endeavoured in some measure to 
describe that which takes pLice when a new hiw of 
natiu'e is discovered. A number of facts in which, 
before, order and connexion did not appear at all, or 
appeared b}- partial and contradictor}^ glimpses, are 
brought into a point of view in which order and con- 
nexion become their essential character. It is seen 
that each fact is but a different manifestation of the 
same principle ; that each particular is that which it is, 
in virtue of the same general truth. The inscription is 
decypliered ; the enigma is guessed ; the principle is 
understood; tlietrutliis enunciated. 

AVlien this step is once made, it becomes possible to 
deduce from the truth thus established, a train of con- 
sequences often in no small degree long and complex. 
The process of making these inferences may proj^erl}- 
be described by the word Deduction. On the other 
hand, the very different process by which a new prin- 
ciple is collected from an assemblage of facts, has been 
termed Induction ; the truths so obtained and their 
consequences constitute the results of the Inductive 
Pliilosophy ; which is frequently and rightly described 
as a science which ascends from particular facts to 
general principles, and then descends again from these 
general principles to particular applications and exem- 
plifications. 

While the great and important labours by which 
science is really advanced consist in the successive 
steps of the inductive ascent, in the discovery of new 
laws perpetually more and more general ; by far the 
greater part of our books of physical science unavoid- 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



281 



ably consist in deductive reasoning, exhibiting tlie con- 
sequences and applications of the laws which have been 
discovered ; and the greater part of writers upon science 
have their minds employed in this process of deduction 
and application. 

This is true of many of those who are considered, 
and justly, as distinguished and profound philosophers. 
In the mechanical philosophy, that science which 
applies the properties of matter and the laws of motion 
to the explanation of the phenomena of the world, this 
is peculiarly the case. The laws, when once discovered, 
occupy little room in their statement, and when no 
longer contested, are not felt to need a lengthened proof. 
But their consequences require far more room and 
far more intellectual labour. If we take, for example, 
the laws of motion and the law of universal gTavitation, 
we can express in a few lines, that which, when deve 
loped, represents and explains an innumerable mass of 
natural phenomena. But here the course of develop- 
ment is necessarily so long, the reasoning contains so 
many steps, the considerations on which it rests are so 
minute and refined, the complication of cases and of 
consequences is so vast, and even the involution arising 
from the properties of space and number is so serious, 
that the most consummate subtlety, the most active 
invention, the most tenacious power of inference, the 
widest spirit of combination, must be tasked, and tasked 
severely, in order to solve the problems which belong 
to tins portion of science. And the persons who have 
been employed on these problems, and who have brought 
to them the high and admirable qualities which such 



282 



HELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



an office requii-es, have justly excited iii a very eminent 
degi-ee the admiration which mankind feel for great 
intellectual powers. Their names occupy a distm- 
guished place in literary history ; and probably there 
are no scientific reputations of the last century higher, 
and none more merited, than those earned by the great 
mathematicians who have laboured with such wonderful 
success in unfolding the mechanism of the heavens ; 
such for instance as D'Alembert, Clairault, Euler, 
Lagrange, Laplace. 

But it is still important to recollect, that the mental 
employments of men, while they are occupied in this 
portion of the task of the formation of science, are 
altogether different from that which takes place in the 
mind of a discoverer, who, for the first time, seizes 
the princii^le which connects phenomena before unex- 
plained, and tlius adds another original truth to our 
knowledge cf the universe. In explaming, as the 
great mathematicians just mentioned have done, the 
phenomena of the solar system by means of the law of 
universal gravitation, the conclusions at which they 
arrived were really included in the truth of the law, 
whatever skill and sagacity it might requu'e to develope 
and extricate them from the general principle. But 
when Newton conceived and established the law itself, 
he added to our knowledge something which was not 
contained in any truth previously known, nor deducible 
from it by any com-se of mere reasoning. And the 
same distmction, in all other cases, obtains, between 
these processes which establish the principles, generally 
few and simple, on which our sciences rest, and those 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



283 



reasonings and calculations, founded on tlie principles 
thus obtained, wliich constitute by far the larger portion 
of the common treatises on the most complete of the 
sciences now cultivated. 

Since the difference is so great between the process 
of inductive generalisation of physical facts, and that 
of mathematical deduction of ' consequences, it is not 
surprising that the two processes should imply different 
mental powers and habits. However rare the mathe- 
matical talent, in its highest excellence, may be, it is 
far more common, if we are to judge from the history of 
science, than the genius which divines the general laws 
of nature. We have several good mathematicians in 
every age ; we have few great discoverers in the whole 
history of our species. 

The distinction being thus clearly established between 
original discovery and derivative speculation, between 
the ascent to principles and the descent from them, we 
have further to observe, that the habitual and exclusive 
prosecution of the latter process may sometimes exercise 
an unfavourable effect on the mind of the student, and 
may make him less fitted and ready to apprehend and 
accept truths different from those with which his 
reasonings are concerned. We conceive, for example, 
that a person labours under gross error, who believes 
the phenomena of the world to be altogether produced 
by mechanical causes, and who excludes from his view 
all reference to an intelligent First Cause and Governor. 
But we conceive that reasons may be shown which 
make it more probable that error of such a kind should 
find a place in the mind of a person of deductive, than of 



2S4 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



inductive habits ; — of a mere mathematician or logician, 
than of one who studies the facts of the natural world 
and detects their laws. 

The person wliose mind is employed in reducing to 
law and order and intelligible cause the complex facts 
of the material world, is compelled to look beyond the 
present state of his knowledge, and to turn his thoughts 
to the existence of principles higher than those which 
lie 3'et possesses. He has seen occasions when facts that 
at lirst seemed incoherent and anomalous, were reduced 
to rule and connexion ; and when limited rules were 
discovered to be included in some rule of superior 
generality. He Imows that all facts and appearances, 
all i^artial laws, however confused and casual they at 
present seem, must still, in reality, have this same kind 
of bearing and dependence ; — must be bound together 
by some undiscovered imnciple of order ; — must -pi'o- 
ceed from some cause working by most steady rules ; — 
must be included in some wide and fruitful general 
truth. He cannot therefore consider any principles 
which he has already obtained, as the ultimate and 
sufficient reason of that which he sees. There must 
be some higher principle, some ulterior reason. The 
effoii and struggle by which he endeavours to extend 
his view, makes him feel that there is a region of truth 
not included in his present physical knowledge; the 
very imperfection of the light in which he works his 
way, suggests to him that there must be a source of 
clearer illumination at a distance from him. 

We must allow that it is scarcely possible to describe, 
in a manner free from some vagueness and obscurity, 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



285 



the effect thus produced upon the mmd by the efforts 
which it makes to reduce natural phenomena to 
general laws. But we trust it will still be allowed that 
there is no difficulty in seeing clearly that a different 
influence may result from this process, and from the 
j)rocess of deductive reasoning which forms the main 
employment of the mathematical cultivators and syste- 
matic expositors of physical science in modern times. 
Such persons are not led by their pursuits to anything 
beyond the general principles, which form the basis of 
their explanations and applications. They acquiesce 
in these ; they make these their ultimate grounds of 
truth ; and they are entirely employed in unfoldmg the 
particular truths which are involved in such general 
truths. Their thoughts dwell little upon the possibility 
of the laws of nature being other than we find them to 
be, or on the reasons why they are not so; and still less 
on those facts and phenomena which philosophers have 
not yet reduced to any rule, which are lawless to us, 
though we know that, in reality, they must be governed 
by some principle of order and harmony. On the 
contrary, by assuming perpetually the existing laws as 
the basis of their reasoning, without question or doubt, 
and by employing such language that these laws can 
be expressed in the simplest and briefest form, they 
are led to think and believe as if these laws were 
necessarily and inevitably what they are. Some 
mathematicians, indeed, have maintained that the 
highest laws of nature with which we are acquainted, 
the laws of motion and the law of miiversal gravitation, 
are not only necessarily true, but are even self-evident 



286 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



and certain It j^riori, like the truths of geometry. And 
though the mathematical cultivator of the science of 
mechanics may not adopt this as his speculative opi- 
nion, he may still be so far influenced by the tendency 
from which it springs, that he may rest in the mecha- 
nical laws of the universe as ultimate and all-sufi&cient 
principles, without seeing in them any evidence of their 
having been selected and ordamed, and thus without 
ascending from the contemplation of the world to the 
thought of an Intelligent Ruler. He may thus sub- 
stitute for the Deity certain axioms and first principles, 
as the cause of all. And the follower of Newton may 
run into tlie error with which he is sometimes charged, 
of thrusting some meclianic cause into the place of 
God, if he do not raise his views, as his master did, to 
some higher cause, to some source of all forces, laws, 
and principles. 

When, therefore, we consider the mathematicians 
who are employed in successfully applying the mecha- 
nical philosophy, as men well deservuig of honour from 
those who take an interest in the progress of science, 
we do rightly; but it is still to be recollected, that 
in doing this they are not carrying us to any higher 
point of view in the knowledge of nature than we 
had attained before : they are only unfoldmg the 
consequences, which were akeady virtually in our 
possession, because they were implied in principles 
abeady discovered : — 'they are adding to our knowledge 
of effects, but not to our knowledge of causes : — they 
are not making any advance in that progress of which 
Newton spoke, and in which he made so vast a stride, 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



287 



in which " every step made brings us nearer to the 
knowledge of the first cause, and is on that account 
highly to be valued." And as in this advance they 
have no peculiar privileges or advantages, their errors 
of opinion concerning it, if they err, are no more to be 
wondered at than those of common men ; and need as 
httle disturb or distress us, as if those who comixdtted 
them had confined themselves to the study of arithmetic 
or of geometry. If we can console and tranquillise 
ourselves concerning the defective or perverted views 
of religious truth entertained by any of our fellow men, 
we need find no additional difficulty in doing so when 
those who are mistaken are great mathematicians, who 
have added to the riches and elegance of the mechanical 
philoso]3hy. And if we are seeking for extraneous 
grounds of trust and comfort on this subject, we may 
find them in the reflection ; — that, whatever may be the 
opinions of those who assume the causes and laws of 
that philosophy and reason from them, the views of 
those admirable and ever-honoured men who first 
caught sight of these laws and causes, impressed them 
with the belief that this is " the fabric of a great and 
good God;" that "it is man's duty to pour out his 
soul in praise of the Creator;" and that all this beau- 
tiful system must be referred to " a first cause, which 
is certainly not mechanical." 

II. We may thus, with the greatest propriety, deny 
to the mechanical philosophers and mathematicians of 
recent times any authority with regard to their views 
of the administration of the universe; we have no 
reason whatever to expect from their speculations any 



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help, when we attempt to ascend to the first cause and 
supreme Euler of the universe. But w^e might perhaps 
go further, and assert that they are in some respects 
less hkely tlian men employed in other pursuits, to 
make any clear advance towards such a suhject of 
speculation. Persons whose thoughts are thus entirely 
occupied in deduction are apt to forget that this is, 
after all, only one employment of the reason among 
more ; only one mode of arriving at truth, needing to 
have its deficiencies completed hy another. Deductive 
reasoners, those who cultivate science of whatever kind, 
by means of mathematical and logical processes alone, 
may acquire an exaggerated feeling of the amount and 
value of their labours. Such employments, from the 
clearness of the notions involved in tliem, the irre- 
sistible concatenation of truths which they unfold, th6 
subtlety which they require, and their entire success in 
that which they attempt, possess a peculiar fascination 
for the intellect. Those who pursue such studies have 
generally a contempt and impatience of the pretensions 
of all those other portions of our knowledge, where 
from the nature of the case, or the small progress 
hitherto made in their cultivation, a more vague and 
loose kind of reasoning seems to be adopted. Now if 
this feeling be carried so far as to make the reasoner 
suppose that these mathematical and logical jorocesses 
can lead him to all the knowledge and all the certainty 
which we need, it is clearly a delusive feeling. For it 
is confessed on all hands, that all which mathematics 
or vrhich logic can do, is to develope and extract those 
truths, as conclusions, which were in reality involved 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



289 



in the principles on which our reasonings proceeded.* 
And this being allowed, we cannot but ask how we 
obtain these principles ? from what other source of 
knowledge we derive the original truths which we thus 
pursue into detail ? since it is manifest that such 
principles cannot be derived from the proper stores 
of mathematics or logic. These methods can generate 
no new truth ; and all the grounds and elements of the 
knowledge which, through them, we can acquire, must 
necessarily come from some extraneous source. It 
is certain, therefore, that the mathematician and the 
logician must derive from some process different from 
their own, the substance and material of all our know- 
ledge, whether physical or metaphysical, physiological 
or moral. This process, by which we acquire our first 
principles (without pretending here to analyse it), is 
obviously the general course of human experience, and 
the natural exercise of the understanding : our inter- 
course with matter and with men, and the consequent 
growth in our minds of convictions and conceptions 
such as our reason can deal with, either by her 
systematic or unsystematic methods of procedure. 
Supplies from tliis vast and inexhaustible source of 
original truths are requisite, to give any value whatever 
to the results of our deductive processes, whether 

* " Since all reasoning may be resolved into syllogisms, and since in 
a syllogism the premises do virtually assert the conclusion, it follows 
at once, that no new truth can be elicited by any process of reasoning." 
— Whately's Logic, p. 223. 

Mathematics is the logic of quantity, and to this science the observa- 
tion here quoted is strictly applicable. 



290 



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matliematical or logical ; while, on tlie other hand, 
there are many branches of our knowledge in which 
we possess a large share of original and derivative 
convictions and truths, but where it is nevertheless at 
present quite impossible to erect our knowledge into 
a complete system ; — to state our primary and inde- 
pendent truths, and to show how on these all the rest 
depend by the rules of art. If the mathematician is 
repelled from speculations on morals or politics, on the 
beautiful or the right, because the reasonings which 
the}^ involve have not mathematical precision and 
conclusiveness, he will remain destitute of much of the 
most valuable knowledge which man can acquire. 
And if he attempts to mend the matter by giving to 
treatises on morals, or politics, or criticism, a form and s 
a phraseology borrowed from the very few tolerably 
complete physical sciences which exist, it will be found 
that he is compelled to distort and damage the most 
important truths, so as to deprive them of their true . 
shape and import, in order to force them into their 
places in his artificial system. 

If, therefore, as we have said, the mathematical 
philosopher dwells in his own bright and pleasant land 
of deductive reasoning, till he turns with disgust from 
all the speculations, necessarily less clear and conclu- 
sive, in which his imagination, his practical faculties, 
his moral sense, his capacity of religious hope and 
belief, are to be called into action, he becomes, more 
than common men, liable to miss the roads to truths 
of extreme consequeiice. 

This is so obvious, that charges are frequently 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



291 



brought against the study of mathematics, as unfitting 
men for those occupations which depend upon our 
common instinctive convictions and feelings, upon 
the unsystematic exercise of the understanding with 
regard to common relations and common occurrences. 
Bonaparte observed of Laplace when he was i:)laced in 
a public office of considerable importance, that he did 
not discharge it in so judicious and clear-sighted a 
manner as his high intellectual fame might lead most 
persons to expect * " He sought," that great judge 
of character said, " subtleties in every subject, and 
carried into his official employments the spirit of the 
method of infinitely small quantities," b}^ which the 
mathematician solves his most abstruse problems. And 
the complaint that mathematical studies make men 
insensible to moral evidence and to poetical beauties, 
is so often repeated as to show that some opposition of 
tendency is commonly perceived between that exercise 
of the intellect which mathematics requires, and those 
processes which go on in our minds when moral cha- 
racter or imaginative beauty is the subject of our 
contemplation. 

Thus, while we acknowledge all the beauty and all 
the value of the mathematical reasonings by which the- 

* "^A I'interieur, le ministre Quinette fut remplace par Laplace, 
geometre du premier rang, mais qui ne tarda pas h se montrer 
administrateur plus que mediocre : des son premier travail les consuls 
s'aper9urent qu'ils s'etaient tromp^s : Laplace ne saisissait auCune 
question sous son vrai point de vue : 11 cherchait des subtilites par- 
tout, n'avait que des id^es problematiques, et portait enfin Tesprit 
des infiniment petits dans I'administration." — Memoires ecrits a Ste. 
Iltlene, i. 3. 

u 2 



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consequences of our general laws are deduced, we may 
3^et consider it possible tliat a philosopher, whose mind 
has been mainly employed, and his intellectual habits 
determined, by this process of deduction, may possess, 
in a feeble and imperfect degree only, some of those 
faculties by which truth is attained, and especially 
truths such as regard our relation to that mind, which 
is the origin of all law, the source of first principles, 
and which must be immeasurably elevated above all 
derivative truths. It would, therefore, be far from 
surprising, if there should be found, among the great 
authors of the developments of the mechanical philo- 
sophy, some who had refused to refer the phenomena 
of the universe to a supreme mind, purpose, and will. 
And though this would be, to a believer in the being 
and government of God, a matter of sorrow and pain, 
it need not excite more surprise than if the same were 
true of a person of the most ordinary endowments, 
when it is recollected in what a disproportionate manner 
the various faculties of such a philosopher may have 
been cultivated. And our apprehensions of injury to 
mankind from the influence of such examples will 
diminish, when we consider that those mathematicians 
whose minds have been less partially exercised, the 
great discoverers of the truths which others apply, 
the philosophers who have looked upwards as well as 
downwards, to the unknown as well as to the Imown, 
to ulterior as well as proximate principles, have never 
rested in this narrow and barren doctrine ; but have 
perpetually extended their view forwards, beyond mere 
material laws and causes, to a First Cause of the 



DEDUCTIVE HABITS. 



293 



moral and material world, to which each advance in 
philosophy might bring them nearer, though its highest 
attributes must probably ever remain indefinitely beyond 
their reach. 

It scarcely needs, perhaps, to be noticed, that what 
we here represent as the possible source of error is, 
not the perfection of the mathematical habits of the 
mind, but the deficiency of the habit of apprehending 
truth of other kinds ; — not a clear insight into the 
mathematical consequences of principles, but a want of 
a clear view of the nature and foundation of principles ; 
— ^not the talent for generalising geometrical or mecha- 
nic^tl relations, but the tendency to erect such relations 
into ultimate truths and ef&cient causes. The most 
consummate mathematical skill may accompany and 
be auxiliary to the most earnest piety, as it often has 
been. And an entire command of the conceptions and 
processes of mathematics is not only consistent with, 
but is the necessary condition and principal instrument 
of every important step in the discovery of physical 
principles. Newton was eminent above the philosophers 
of his time, in no one talent so much as in the power 
of mathematical deduction. When he had caught sight 
of the law of universal gravitation, he traced it to its 
consequences with a rapidity, a dexterity, a beauty of 
mathematical reasoning which no other person could 
approach ; so that on this account, if there had been no 
other, the establishment of the general law was possible 
to him alone. He still stands at the head of mathe- 
maticians as well as of philosophical discoverers. But 
it never appeared to him, as it may have appeared to 



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some mathematicians who have employed themselves 
on his discoveries, that the general law was an ultimate 
and sufficient principle ; that the point to which he 
had hung his chain of deduction was the highest point 
in the universe. Lagrange, a modern mathematician 
of transcendent genius, was in the hahit of saj^ing, 
m his aspkations after future fame, that Newton was 
fortunate in having had the system of the world for his 
problem, since its theory could be discovered once 
onl}^ But Newton himself appears to have had no 
such persuasion that the problem he had solved was 
unique and final; he laboured to reduce gravity to 
some higher law, and the forces of other physical 
operations to an analogy with those of gravity, and 
declared that all these were but steps in our advance 
towards a First Cause. Between us and this First Cause, 
the source of the universe and of its laws, we cannot 
doubt that there intervene many successive steps of 
X)ossible discovery and generalisation, not less wide and 
strikmg than the discovery of universal gravitation : 
but it is still more certain that no extent or success of 
physical investigation can carry us to any point which 
is not at an immeasurable distance from an adequate 
knowledge of Him. 

Chap. YII. — On Final Causes. 

We have pointed out a great number of instances 
where the mode in which the arrangements of nature 
produce their effect, suggests, as we conceive, the behef 
that this effect is to be considered as the end and 



FINAL CAUSES. 



295 



purpose of these arrangements. The impression ^'hich 
thus arises, of design and intention exercised in the 
formation of the world, or of the reality of Final Causes, 
operates on men's minds so generally, and increases 
so constantly on every additional examination of the 
phenomena of the miiverse, that we cannot but suppose 
such a belief to have a deep and stable foundation. 
And we conceive that in several of the comparatively 
few cases in wliich such a belief has been rejected, the 
averseness to it has arisen from the mfluence of some 
of the causes mentioned in the last chapter ; the exclu- 
sive pm"suit, namely, of particular trains and modes 
of reasoning, till the mind becomes less capable of 
forming the conceptions and making the exertions 
which are requisite for the apprehension of truths not 
included among its usual subjects of thought. 

I. This seems to be the case with those who maintain 
that purpose and design cannot be inferred or deduced 
from the arrangements which we see around us, by any 
process of reasoning. We can reason from effects to 
causes, say such writers, only in cases where we know 
sometliing of the natm^e of the cause. We can infer 
from the works of men, the existence of design and 
purpose, because we know, from past observation, what 
kind of works human design and purpose can produce. 
But the universe, considered as the work of God, cannot 
be compared with any corresponding work, or judged of 
by any analogy with, known examples. How then can 
we, in this case, they ask, infer design and purpose in 
the artist of the miiverse ? On what principles, on 
what axioms, can we proceed, which shall include this 



296 



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necessarily singular instance, and tlius give legitimacy 
and validity to our reasonings. 

What has already been said on the subject of the 
two different processes by which we obtain principles, 
and by which we reason from them, will suggest the 
reply to these questions. When ^Ye collect design and 
j)urpose from the arrangements of the universe, we do 
not arrive at our conclusion by a train of deductive 
reasoning, but by the conviction which such combi- 
nations as we perceive, immediately and directly 
impress upon the mind. " Design must have had a 
designer." But such a principle can be of no avail to 
one Avhom the contemplation or the description of the 
world does not impress with the perception of design. 
It is not therefore at the end, but at the beginning of 
our sjdlogisms, not among remote conclusions, but 
among original principles, that we must place the truth, 
that such arrangements, manifestations, and pro- 
ceedings as we behold about us imply a Being 
endowed with consciousness, design, and will, from 
whom they proceed. 

This is inevitably the mode in which such a con- 
viction is acquired ; and that it is so, we may the 
more readily believe, when we consider that it is the 
case with the design and will which we ascribe to man, 
no less than in that which we beheve to exist in God. 
At first sight we might perhaps be tempted to say, that 
we infer design and purpose from the works of man in 
one case, because w^e have known these attributes in 
other cases produce effects in some measure similar. 
But to this we must reply, by asking how we come 



FINAL CAUSES. 



297 



to know the existence of human design and purpose at 
Jirst, and at all ? What we see around us are certain 
appearances, things, successions of events; how come 
we ever to ascribe to other men the thought and will of 
which we are conscious ourselves ? How do we come 
to believe that there are other men ? How are Ave led 
to elevate, in our conceptions, some of the objects which 
we perceive into jmsons ? Undoubtedly, their actions, 
their words induce us to do this : we see that the 
manifestations which we observe must be so under- 
stood, and no otherwise : we feel that such actions, 
such events, must be connected by consciousness and 
personality; that the actions are not the actions of 
things, but of persons; not necessary and without 
significance, like the fallmg of a stone, but voluntary 
and with purpose like what we do ourselves. But this is 
not a result of reasoning : we do not infer this from any 
similar case which we have known ; since we are now 
speaking of the first conception of a will and purpose 
different from om' own. In arriving at such knowledge, 
we are aided only b}^ our own consciousness of what 
thought, purpose, will, are : and possessing this regu- 
lative principle, we so decipher and interpret the 
complex appearances which surround us, that we receive 
irresistibly the persuasion of the existence of other 
men, with thought and will and purpose lil^e our own. 
And just in the same manner, when we examine 
attentively the adjustment of the parts of the human 
frame to each other and to the elements, the relation of 
the properties of the earth to those of its inhabitants, 
or of the physical to the moral nature of man, the 



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tliouglit must arise and cling to our perceptions, 
however little it be encouraged, that this system, 
everywhere so full of wonderful combinations, suited to 
the preservation, and well-being of living creatures, is 
also the expression of the intention, wisdom, and 
goodness of a personal Creator and Governor. 

We conceive, then, that it is so far from being an 
unsatisfactory or unphilosophical process by which we 
collect the existence of a Deity from the works of 
creation, that the process corresponds most closely with 
that on which rests the most steadfast of our con- 
victions, next to that of our own existence, the belief of 
the existence of other human beings. If any one ever 
went so far in scepticism as to doubt the existence of 
any other person than himself, he might, so far as the 
argument from final causes is concerned, reject the 
being of God as well as that of man ; but without 
dwelling on the possibility of such fantasies, when we 
consider how impossible it is for men in general not to 
attribute personality, purpose, thought, will to each 
other, in virtue of certain combinations of appearances 
and actions, we must deem them most consistent and 
reasonable in attributing also personality and purpose 
to God, in virtue of the whole assemblage of appearances 
and actions which constitute the universe, full as it is 
of combinations from which such a suggestion springs. 
The vividness, the constancy of the belief of a wise and 
good Being, thus governing the world, may be different 
in different men, according to their habit of directing 
their thoughts to the subject; but such a belief is 
undoubtedly capable of becoming lively and steadfast 



riNAL CAUSES. 



299 



in the highest degree. It has been entertained and 
cherished by enlightened and well-regulated minds in 
all ages ; and has been, at least since the rise of 

■ Christianity, not only the belief, but a pervading and 
ruling principle of action of many men, and of whole 
communities. The idea may be rendered more faint 
by turning the mind away from it, and, perhaps by 
indulging too exclusively in abstract and general 
speculations. It grows stronger by an actual study of 
the details of the creation ; and, as regards the practical 
consequences of such a belief, by a habit of referring 
our actions and hopes to such a Governor. In this 
way it is capable of becoming as real and fixed an 
impression as that of a human friend and master ; and 

. all that we can learn, by observing the course of men's 
feelings and actions, tends to convince us, that this 

•belief of the being and presence and government of 
God, leads to the most elevated and beneficial frame 
of mind of which man is capable. 

II. How natui'al and almost inevitable is this per- 
suasion of the reahty of Final Causes and consequent 
belief in the personality of the Deity, we may gather 
by observing how constantly it recurs to the thoughts, 
even of those who, in consequence of such peculiarities 
of mental discipline as have been described, have 
repelled and resisted the impression. 

Thus, Laplace, of whom we have already spoken, as 

'one of the greatest mathematicians of modern times, 
expresses his conviction that the supposed evidence of 
final causes will disappear as our knowledge advances, 
and that they only seem to exist in those cases where 



300 



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our ignorance leaves room for such a mistake. " Let 
us run over," he says, " the history of the progress of 
the human mind and its errors : we shall perpetually 
see final causes pushed away to the bounds of its 
knowledge. These causes, which Newton removed to 
the limits of the solar sj^stem, were not long ago 
conceived to obtain in the atmosphere, and employed 
in explaining meteors : they are, therefore, in the 
eyes of the philosopher nothing more than the ex- 
pression of the ignorance in which we are of the real 
causes." 

We may observe that we have endeavoured to give 
a very different, and, as we believe, a far truer view 
of the effect which philosophy has produced on our 
knowledge of final causes. We have shown, we trust, 
that the notion of design and end is transferred by the 
researches of science, not from the domain of our 
knowledge to that of our ignorance, but merely from 
the region of facts to that of laws. We hold that, in 
this form, final causes in the atmosphere are still to be 
conceived to obtain, no less than in an earlier state 
of meteorological knowledge ; and that Newton was 
right, when he believed that he had established 
their reality in the solar system, not expelled them 
from it. 

But our more peculiar business at present is to 
observe that Laplace himself, in describing the arrange- 
ments by which the stabihty of the solar system is 
secured, uses language which shows how irresistibly 
these arrangements suggest an adaptation to its pre- 
servation as an encL If in his expressions we were to 



FINAL CAUSES. 



301 



substitute the Deity for the abstraction " nature " 
which he employs, his reflection would coincide with 
that which the most religious philosopher would enter- 
tain. " It seems that ' God ' has ordered everything 
in the heavens to ensure the duration of the planetary 
system, by vieivs similar to those which He appears 
to us so admirably to follow upon the earth, for the 
preservation of animals and the perpetuity of species.* 
This consideration alone would explain the disposition 
of the system, if it were not the business of the 
geometer to go further." It may be possible for the 
geometer to go further; but he must be strangely 
bluided by his peculiar pursuits, if, when he has dis- 
covered the mode in w^hich these views are answered, 
he supposes himself to have obtained a proof that there 
are no view^s at all. It would be as if the savage, who 
had marvelled at the steady w^orking of the steam- 
t engine, should cease to consider it a work of art, as 
; soon as the self-regulating part of the mechanism had 
1 been explained to him. 

The unsuccessful struggle in which those persons 
• engage, wdio attempt to throw off the impression of 
' design in the creation, appears in an amusing manner 
through the simplicity of the ancient Roman poet of 
this school. Lucretius maintains that the eye was not 
made for seeing, nor the ear for hearing. But the 
terms in which he recommends this doctrine show^ how 

* " II semble que la nature ait tout disposd dans le ciel, pour assurer 
la duree du systeme planetaire, par des vues semblables h celles qu'elle 
nous parait suivre si admirablement sur la terra, pour la conservatioa 
des individus et la perp^tuitd des especes." — Syst. c^w Monde, p. 442. 



30^ 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



liarcl lie knew it to be for men to entertain such an 
opinion. His advice is — 

Illud in his rebus vitium veJienienter et istum 
Effugere errorem, vitareque prceineditator, 
Lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata, 
Prospicere iit possimus. — iv. 823. 

'Gainst their preposterous error guard thy mind 
Who say each organ was for use design' d ; 
Think not the visual orbs, so clear, so bright, 
Were furnish'd for the purposes of sight. 

Undoubtedly the poet is so far right, that a most 
"vehement" caution and vigilant "premeditation" are 
necessary to avoid the "vice and error" of such a per- 
suasion. The study of the adaptations of the human 
frame is so convincing, that it carries the mind with 
it, in spite of the resistance suggested by speculative 
systems. Cabanis, a modern French physiological 
writer of great eminence, may be selected as a proof 
of this. Both by the general character of his own 
speculations, and by the tone of thinking prevalent 
around liim, the consideration of design in the works 
of nature was abhorrent from his plan. Accordingly, 
he joins in repeating Bacon's unfavourable mention 
of final causes. Yet when he comes to speak of the 
laws of reproduction of the human race, he appears to 
feel himself compelled to admit the irresistible manner 
in which such views force themselves on the mind. 
" I regard," he says, " with the great Bacon, the 
philosophy of final causes as barren ; but I have else- 
where acknowledged that it was very difficult for the 



FINAL CAUSES. 



303 



most cautious man (I'liomme le plus reserve) never to 
have recourse to tliem in his explanations." * 

III. It may be worth our while to consider for a 
moment the opinion here referred to by Cabanis, of 
the propriety of excluding the consideration of final 
causes from our natural philosophy. The great authority 
of Bacon is usually adduced on this subject. " The 
handhng of final causes," says he, "mixed with the 
rest in physical inquiries, hath intercepted the severe 
and diligent inquiry of all real and physical causes, 
and given men the occasion to stay upon these satis- 
factory and specious . causes, to the great arrest and 
prejudice of farther discovery." t 

A moment's attention will show how well this repre- 
sentation agrees with that which we have urged, and 
how far it is from dissuading the reference to final 
causes in reasonings like those on which we are 
employed. Final causes are to be excluded from 'phy- 
sical inquiry; that is, we are not to assume that we 
know the objects of the Creator's design, and put this 
assumed purpose in the place of a physical cause. We 
are not to think it a sufficient account of the clouds 
that they are for watering the earth (to take Bacon's 
examples), or "that the solidness of the earth is for 
the station and mansion of living creatures." The 
physical philosopher has it for his business to trace 
clouds to the laws of evaporation and condensation ; 
to determine the magnitude and mode of action of the 
forces of cohesion and crystalHsation by which the 

* Rapports du Physique et du Moral de THomme, i., 299, 
+ De Augment. Sc. ii,, 105, 



304 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



materials of the earth are made solid and firm. This 
he does, making no use of the notion of final causes : 
and it is precisely because he has thus established his 
theories independently of any assumption of an end, 
that the end, when, after all., it returns upon him and 
cannot be evaded, becomes an irresistible evidence of 
an intelligent legislator. He finds that the effects, 
of which the use is obvious, are produced by most 
simj)le and comprehensive laws ; and when he has 
obtained this view, he is struck by the beauty of the 
means, by the refined and skilful manner in which the 
useful eft'ects are brought about; — points different from 
those to which his researches were directed. We have 
already seen, in the very case of which we have been 
speaking, namely, the laws by which the clouds are 
formed and distribute their showers over the earth, 
how strongly those who have most closely and exten- 
sively examined the arrangements there employed (as 
Howard, Dalton, and Black) have been impressed with 
the harmony and beauty wliich these contrivances 
manifest. 

We may find a further assertion of this view of the 
proper use of final causes in philosophy, by referring 
to the works of one of the greatest of our philosophers, 
and one of the most pious of our writers, Boyle, who 
has an Essay on this subject. I am by all means," 
says he, "for encouraging the contemplation of the 
celestial part of the world, and the shining globes that 
adorn it, and especially the sun and moon, in order 
to raise our admiration of the stupendous power and 
wisdom of Him who was able to frame such immense 



PINAL CAUSES. 



305 



bodies ; and notwithstanding their vast bulk and scarce 
conceivable rapidity, keep them for so many ages 
constant both to the lines and degrees of their motion, 
without interfering with one another. And doubtless 
we ought to return thanks and praises to the Divine 
goodness for having so placed the sun and moon, and 
determined the former, or else the earth, to move in 
particular lines for the good of men and other animals ; 
and how disadvantageous it would have been to the 
inhabitants of the earth if the luminaries had moved 
after a different manner. I dare not, however, affirm 
that the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies were 
made solely for the use of man : much less presume to 
prove one system of the icorld to he true and another 
false ; because the former is better fitted to the conve- 
nience of mankind, or the other less suited, or perhaps 
altogether useless to that end.'' 

This passage exliibits, we conceive, that combination 
of feelings which ought to mark the character of the 
religious natural x3hilosopher ; an earnest piety ready to 
draw nutriment from the contemplation of established 
physical truths ; joined with a philosophical caution, 
which is not seduced by the anticipation of such con- 
templations, to pervert the strict course of physical 
inquiry. 

It is precisely through this philosophical care and 
scrupulousness that our views of final causes acquire 
their force and value as aids to religion. The object 
of such views is not to lead us to i)hysical truth, but to 
connect such truth, obtained by its proper processes 
and methods, with our views of God, the master of the 



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universe, through those laws and relations which are 
thus placed beyond dispute. 

Bacon's comparison of final causes to the vestal 
virgins is one of those poignant sayings, so frequent in 
his writings, which it is not easy to forget. *'Like 
them," he says, "they are dedicated to God, and are 
barren." But to any one who reads his work it 
will appear in what spirit this was meant. " Not 
because those final causes are not true and worthy to 
be inquired, being kept within their own province." 
(Of the Advancement of Learning, b. ii., p. 142.) If 
he had had occasion to develope his simile, full of latent 
meaning as his similes so often are, he would probably 
have said, that to these final causes barrenness was no 
reproach, seeing they ought to be, not the mothers 
but the daughters of our natural sciences ; and that 
they were barren, not by imperfection of their nature, 
but in order that they might be kept pure and undefiled, 
and so fit ministers in the temple of God. 



Chap. VIII. — On the Physical Agency of the Deity. 

I. We are not to expect that physical investigation 
can enable us to conceive the manner in which God 
acts upon the members of the universe. The question, 
" Canst thou by searching find out God ? " must silence 
the boastings of science as well as the repinings of 
adversity. Indeed, science shows us, far more clearly 
than the conceptions of every day reason, at what an 
immeasurable distance we are from any faculty of 
conceiving how the universe, material and moral, is the 



AGENCY OF THE DEITY. 



307 



work of the Deity. But with regard to the material 
world, we can at least go so far as this; — we can 
j)erceive that events are brought about, not by insulated 
interpositions of divine power exerted in each particular 
case, but by the establishment of general laws. This, 
which is the view of the universe proper to science, 
whose of&ce it is to search out these laws, is also the 
view which, throughout this work, we have endeavoured 
to keep present to the mind of the reader. We have 
attempted to show that it combines itself most readily 
and harmoniously with the . doctrines of Natural 
Theology ; that the arguments for those doctrines are 
strengthened, the difficulties which affect them removed, 
by keeping it steadily before us. "We conceive, there- 
fore, that the religious philosopher will do well to bear 
this conception in his mind. God is the author and 
governor of the universe through the laws which he has 
given to its parts, the properties wliich he has impressed 
upon its constituent elements : these laws and j)ro- 
perties are, as we have already said, the instruments 
with wliich he works : the institution of such laws, the 
selection of the quantities which they involve, their 
combination and application, are the modes in which 
he exerts and manifests his power, his wisdom, his 
goodness : through these attributes, thus exercised, the 
Creator of all, shapes, moves, sustains and guides the 
visible creation. 

This has been the view of the relation of the Deity 
to the universe entertained by the most sagacious and 
comprehensive minds ever since the true object of 
natural philosophy has been clearly and steadily appre- 

X 2 



308 



llELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



liended. The great writer who was the first to give 
philosophers a distinct and commanding view of this 
object, thus expresses himself in his " Confession of 
Faith : " "I believe — that notwithstanding God hath 
rested and ceased from creating since the first Sabbath, 
vet, nevertheless, he doth accomplish and fulfil his 
divine will in all things, great and small, singular 
and general, as fully and exactly by providence, as 
he could by miracle and new creation, though his 
working be not immediate and direct, but b}^ compass ; 
not violating Nature, which is his own law upon the 
creature." 

And one of our own time, whom we can no longer 
hesitate to place among the worthiest disciples of the 
school of Bacon, conveys the same thought in the 
following passage : " The Divine Author of the universe 
cannot be supposed to have laid down particular laws, 
enumerating all individual contingencies, which his 
materials have understood and obey — this would be to 
attribute to him the imperfections of human legislation ; 
— but rather, by creating them endued with certain 
fixed qualities and powers, he has impressed them in 
their origin with the sioirit, not the letter of his law, and 
made all their subsequent combinations and relations 
inevitable consequences of this first impression." * 

II. This, which thus appears to be the mode of the 
Deity's operation in the material world, requires some 
attention on our part in order to understand it with 
proper clearness. One reason of this is, that it is 
a mode of operation altogether different from that in 

* Herscliel on the Study of Nat. Phil. Art. 27. 



AGENCY OF THE DEITY. 



309 



which we are able to make matter fulfil our designs. 
Man can construct exquisite machines, can call in vast 
powers, can form extensive combinations, in order to 
bring about results which he has in view. But in all 
this he is only taking advantage of laws of nature 
which already exist ; he is applying to his use qualities 
which matter already possesses. Nor can he by any 
effort do more. He can establish no new law of nature 
which is not a result of the existing ones. He can 
invest matter with no new properties which are not 
modifications of its present attributes. His greatest 
advances in skill and power are made when he calls 
to his aid forces which before existed unemployed, or 
when he discovers so much of the habits of some of the 
elements as to be able to bend them to his purpose. 
He navigates the ocean by the assistance of the winds 
which he cannot raise or still : and even if we suppose 
him able to control the course of these, his yet 
unsubjugated ministers, this could only be done by 
studying their characters, by learning more thoroughly 
the laws of air and heat and moisture. He cannot give 
the minutest portion of the atmosphere new relations, a 
new course of expansion, new laws of motion. But the 
Divine operations, on the other hand, include something 
much higher. They take in the estabhshment of the 
laws of the elements, as well as the combination of 
these laws, and the determination of the distribution 
and quantity of the materials on which they shall 
produce their effect. We must conceive that the 
Supreme Power has ordained that air shall be rarefied, 
and water turned into vapour, by heat ; no less than 



310 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 

that lie has combined air and water so as to sprinkle 
the earth with showers, and determined the quantity of 
heat and air and water, so that the showers shall be as 
beneficial as they are. 

AVe may and must, therefore, in our conceptions of 
the Divine purpose and agency, go beyond the analogy 
of human contrivances. We must conceive the Deity, 
not only as constructing the most refined and vast 
machinery, with which, as we have already seen, the 
universe is filled ; but w^e must also imagine him as 
establishing those properties by which such machinery 
is possible : as giving to the materials of his structure 
the qualities by which the material is fitted to its use. 
There is much to be found, in natural objects, of the 
same kind of contrivance which is common to these and 
to human inventions ; there are mechanical devices, 
operations of the atmospheric elements, chemical pro- 
cesses ; — many such have been pointed out, many more 
exist. But besides these cases of the combination of 
means, which we seem able to understand without 
much difficulty, we are led to consider the Divme 
Being as the autJior of the laivs of chemical, of physical, 
and of mechanical action, and of such other laws as 
make matter what it is ; — and this is a view which no 
analogy of human inventions, no knowledge of human 
powers, at all assist us to embody or understand. 
Science, therefore, as we have said, wdiile it discloses to 
us the mode of instrumentahty employed by the Deity, 
convinces us, more effectually than ever, of the impos- 
sibihty of conceiving God's actions by assimilating 
them to our own. 



AGENCY OF THE DEITY. 



311 



III. The laws of material nature, such as we have 
described them, operate at all times, and in all places ; 
affect every province of the universe, and involve every 
relation of its parts. Wlierever these laws appear, we 
have a manifestation of the intelligence by which they 
were established. But a law supposes an agent, and a 
power ; for it is the mode according to which the agent 
proceeds, the order according to which the power acts. 
Without the presence of such an agent, of such a 
power, conscious of the relations on which the law 
depends, producing the effects which the law prescribes,, 
the law can have no ef&cacy, no existence. Hence we 
infer that the intelligence by which the law is ordained, 
the power by which it is put in action, must be present 
at all times and in all places where the effects of the 
law occur ; that thus the knowledge and the agency of 
the Divine Being pervade every portion of the universe,, 
producing all action and passion, all permanence and 
change. The laws of nature are the laws which he, 
in his wisdom, prescribes to his own acts ; his universal 
presence is the necessary condition of any course of 
events, his universal agency the only origin of any 
efficient force. 

This view of the relation of the universe to God has 
been entertained by many of the most eminent of 
those who have combined the consideration of the 
material world with the contemplation of God himself. 
It may therefore be of use to illustrate it by a few 
quotations, and the more so, as we find this idea 
remarkably dwelt upon in the works of that writer 
whose religious views must always have a peculiar 



312 



RELIGIOUS YIE^VS. 



interest for the cultivators of physical science, the great 
Newton. 

Thus, in the observations on the nature of the Deity 
with which he closes the " Opticks," he declares the 
various portions of the world, organic and inorganic, 
" can be the effect of nothing else than the wisdom and 
skill of a powerful ever-living Agent, who being in all 
places, is more able by his will to move the bodies 
within his boundless uniform sensorium, and thereby 
to form and reform the parts of the universe, than we 
are by our will to move the parts of our own bodies." 
And in the Scholium at the end of the " Principia," he 
says, " God is one and the same God always and 
everywhere. He is omnipresent, not by means of his 
virtue alone, but also by his substance, for virtue 
cannot subsist without substance. In him all things 
are contained, and move, but without mutual passion : 
God is not acted upon by the motions of bodies ; and 
they suffer no resistance from the omnipresence of 
God." And he refers to several passages confirmatory 
of this view, not only in the Scriptures, but also in 
writers who hand down to us the opinions of some of 
the most philoso23hical thinkers of the pagan world. 
He does not disdain to quote the poets, and among the 
rest, the verses of Yirgil ; 

Principio ccelum ac terras camposque liquentes 
Lucentemque globum lunje, Titauiaque astra, 
Spiritvis intus alit, totamque infusa per artus 
Mens agitat molem et maguo se corpore miscet : 

warning his reader, however, agamst the doctrine wliich 
such expressions as these are sometimes understood to 



AGENCY OF THE DEITY. 



express : "All these things he rules, not as tlie soul of 
the world, but as the Lord of all." 

Clarke, the friend and disciple of Newton, is one 
of those who has most strenuously put forwards the 
opinion of which we are speaking, " All tilings which 
we commonly saj^ are the effects of the natural powers 
of matter and laws of motion — are, indeed (if we will 
speak strictly and properly), the effects of God's acting 
upon matter continually and at every moment, either 
immediately hy himself, or mediately by some created 
intelligent being. Consequently there is no such 
thing as the cause of nature, or the power of nature," 
independent of the effects produced by the will of 
God. 

Dugald Stewart has adopted and illustrated the same 
opinion, and quotes with admiration the well-lmown 
passage of Pope, concerning the Divine Agency, which 

Lives through all life, extends through all extent. 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 

Mr. Stewart, with no less reasonableness than charity, 
asserts the propriety of interpreting such passages 
according to the scope and spirit of the reasonings 
vdth which they are connected ; * since, though by a 
captious reader they might be associated with erroneous 
views of the Deity, they may be susceptible of a more 
favourable construction ; and we may often see in them 
only the results of the necessary imperfection of our 
language, when we dwell upon the omnipresence and 
universal activity of God. 

* Phil, of Act. and Moral Powers, i. 373. 



314 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



Finally, we may add that the same opinions still 
obtain the assent of the best philosophers and divines 
of our time. Sir John Herschel says (Discourse on 
the Study of Natural Philosophy, p. 37), "We would 
no way be understood to deny the constant exercise of 
His du^ect power in maintaining the system of nature ; 
or the ultimate emanation, of every energy wdiich 
material agents exert, from His immediate will, acting 
in conformity with His own laws." And the Bishop 
of London, in a note to his " Sermon on the Duty of 
combining Religious Instruction with Intellectual Cul- 
ture," observes, " The student in natural philosophy 
will find rest from all those perplexities which are 
occasioned by the obscurity of causation, in the sup- 
position which, although it was discredited by the 
patronage of Malebranche and the Cartesians, has 
been adopted by Clarke and Dugald Stewart, and 
which is by far the most sim^^le and sublime account 
of the matter ; that all the events which are contmually 
taking place in the different parts of the material 
universe, are the immediate effects of the divine 
agency." 

Chap. IX, — On the Impression produced hy considering the Nature and 
Prospects of Science ; or, on the Impossibility of the Progress of our 
Knowledge ever e^iabling us to comprehend the Nature of the Deity. 

If we were to stop at the view presented in the last 
chapter, it might be supposed that — by considering 
God as eternal and omnipresent, conscious of all the 
relations, and of all the objects of the universe, insti- 
tuting laws founded on the contemplation of these 



INCOMPIIEHENSIBLE NATUEE OF GOD. 



315 



relations, and carrying these laws into effect by his 
immediate energy, — we had attained to a conception, 
in some degree definite, of the Deity, such as natural 
philoso^Dhy leads us to conceive him. But by resting 
in this mode of conception, we should overlook, or at 
least should disconnect from our philosophical doctrines, 
all that most interests and affects us in the character 
of the Creator and Preserver of the world ; namely, 
that he is the lawgiver and judge of our actions ; the 
proper object of our prayer and adoration ; the source 
from which we may hope for moral strength here, and 
for the reward of our obedience and the elevation of our 
nature in another state of existence. 

We are very far from believing that ou.r philosophy 
alone can give us such assurance of these important 
truths as is requisite for our guidance and support; 
but we think that even our physical philosophy will 
point out to us the necessity of proceeding far beyond 
that conception of God, which represents him merely 
as the mind in which reside all the contrivance, law, 
and energy of the material world. We believe that the 
view of the universe which modern science has already 
opened to us, compared with the prospect of what 
she has still to do in pursuing the path on which she 
has just entered, will show us how immeasurably 
inadequate such a mode of conception would be : and 
that if we take into our account, as we must in reason 
do, all that of which we have knowledge and conscious- 
ness, and of which we have as yet no systematic 
science, we shall be led to a conviction that the 
Creator and Preserver of the material world must also 



316 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



contain in him such properties and attributes as imply 
his moral character, and as fall in most consistently 
with all that we learn in any other way of his pro- 
vidence and holiness, his justice and mercy. 

I. The sciences which have at present acquired any 
considerable degree of completeness, are those in 
which an extensive and varied collection of phenomena, 
and their proximate causes, have been reduced to a 
few simple general laws. Such are Astronomy and 
Mechanics, and perhaps, so far as its physical condi- 
tions are concerned, Optics. Other portions of human 
knowledge can be considered as perfect sciences, in any 
strict sense of the term, only when they have assumed 
this form; when the various appearances which they 
involve are reduced to a few principles, such as the 
laws of motion and the mechanical properties of the 
luminiierous ether. If we could trace the endless 
varieties of the forms of crystals, and the complicated 
results of chemical composition, to some one compre- 
hensive law necessarily pointing out the crystalline 
form of any given chemical compound, Mineralogy 
would become an exact science. As yet, however, we 
can scarcely boast of the existence of any other such 
sciences than those "which we at first mentioned : and 
so far therefore as we attempt to give definiteness to 
our conception of the Deity, by considering him as the 
intelligent depositary and executor of laws of nature, 
we can subordinate to such a mode of conception no 
portion of the creation, save the mechanical movements 
of the universe, and the propagation and properties of 
light. 



INCOMPEEHENSIBLE NATUllE OF GOD. 317 

"II. And if we attempt to argue concerning the nature 
of the laws and relations which govern those provinces 
of creation whither our science has not yet reached, by 
applying some analogy borrowed from cases where it 
has been successful, we have no chance of obtaining 
any except the most erroneous and worthless guesses. 
The history of human speculations, as well as the 
nature of the objects of them, shows how certainly this 
must happen. The great generalisations which have 
been established in one department of our knowledge, 
have been applied in vain to the purpose of throwing 
light on the other portions which still continue in 
obscurity. When the Newtonian philosophy had ex- 
plained so many mechanical facts, by the two great 
steps, — of resolving the action of a whole mass into 
the actions of its minutest particles, and considering 
these particles as centres of force, — attempts were 
naturally soon made to apply the same mode of expla- 
nation to facts of other different kinds. It was 
conceived that the whole of natural philosophy must 
consist in investigating the laws of force by which 
particles of different substances attracted and repelled, 
and thus produced motions, or vibrations to and from 
the particles. Yet what were the next great discoveries 
in physics ? The action of a galvanic wire upon a 
magnet, which is not to attract or repel it, but to turn 
it to the right and left; to produce motion, not to or 
from, but transverse to the line drawn to the acting 
particles; and again, the undulatory theory of liglit, in 
which it appeared that the undulations must not be 
longitudinal, as all philosophers, following the analogy 



318 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of all cases previously conceived, had, at first, supposed 
them to be, but transverse to the path of the ray. 
Here, though the step from the known to the unknown 
was comparatively small, when made conjecturaUy it 
was made in a direction very wide of the truth. How 
impossible then must it be to attain in this manner to 
any conception of a law which shall help us to under- 
stand the whole government of the universe ! 

III. Still, however, in the laws of the luminiferous 
ether, and of the other fluid, (if it be another fluid) by 
which galvanism and magnetism are connected, we 
have something approaching nearly to mechanical 
action, and, possibly, hereafter to be identified with it. 
But we cannot turn to any other part of our physical 
knowledge, without perceiving that the gulf which 
separates it from the exact sciences is jei wider and 
more obscure. Who shall enunciate for us, and in 
terms of what notions, the general law of chemical 
composition and decomposition ? Sometimes indeed we 
give the name of attraction to the affinity by which we 
suppose the particles of the various ingredients of 
bodies to be aggregated ; but no one can point out any 
common feature betw^een this and the attractions of 
which alone we know the exact effects. He who shall 
discover the true general law of the forces by which 
elements form compounds, will probably advance as 
far beyond the discoveries of Newton, as Newton went 
beyond Aristotle. But who shall say in w^hat direction 
this vast flight shall be, and what new views it shaU 
open to us of the manner in which matter obeys the 
laws of the Creator? 



INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATUEE OF GOD. 319 

IV. But suppose tliis flight performed ; — we are yet 
but at the outset of the progress which must carry us 
towards Him : we have yet to begin to learn aU that we 
are to know concerning the ultimate laws of organised 
bodies. What is the principle of life ? What is the 
rule of that action of which assimilation, secretion, 
developement, are manifestations ? and which appears 
to be farther removed from mere chemistry than 
chemistry is from mechanics. And what again is the 
new principle, as it seems to be, which is exhibited in 
the irritability of an animal nerve ? — the existence of a 
sense ? How different is this from all the preceding 
notions ! No efforts can avoid or conceal the vast but 
inscrutable chasm. Those theorists, who have main- 
tained most strenuously the possibility of tracing the 
phenomena of animal life to the influence of physical 
agents, have constantly been obhged to suppose a mode 
of agency altogether different from any yet known in 
physics. Thus Lamarck, one of the most noted of 
such speculators, in describing the course of liis re- 
searches, says, " I was soon persuaded that the internal 
sentiment constituted a power which it was necessary 
to take into account." And Bichat, another writer on 
the same subject, while he declares his dissent from 
Stahl, and the earher speculators, who had referred 
everything in the economy of life to a single principle, 
which they call the anima, the vital principle, and so 
forth, himself introduces several principles, or laws, 
all utterly foreign to the region of physics : namely, 
organic sensibility, organic contractility, animal sensi' 
hility, animal contractility, and the like. Supposing 



320 



IlELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



such principles really to exist, how far enlarged and 
changed must our views be before we can conceive 
these properties, including the faculty of perception, 
wdiich they imply, to be produced by the will and 
power of one supreme Being, acting by fixed laws. 
Yet without conceiving this, we cannot conceive the 
agency of that Deity who is incessantly thus acting, in 
countless millions of forms and modes. 

How strongly then does science represent God to us 
as incomprehensible ! his attributes as unfathomable ! 
His power, his wisdom, his goodness, appear in each of 
the provinces of nature which are thus brought before 
us ; and in each, the more we study them, the more 
impressive, the more admirable do they appear. When 
then we find these qualities manifested in each of so 
many successive wa^^s, and each manifestation rising 
above the preceding by unknown degrees, and through 
a progression of unknown extent, what other language 
can we use concerning such attributes than that they 
are infinite What mode of expression can the most 
cautious philosopher suggest, other than that He, to 
whom we thus endeavour to approach, is infinitely wise, 
powerful, and good ? 

V. But wdtli sense and consciousness the history 
of living things only begins. They have instincts, 
affections, passions, wall. How entirely lost and 
bewildered do we find ourselves when we endeavour to 
conceive these faculties communicated by means of 
general laws ! Yet they are so communicated from 
God, and of such laws he is the lawgiver. At wdiat an 
immeasurable interval is he thus placed above every 



INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD. 821 

thing which the creation of the inanimate world alone 
would imply ; and how far must he transcend all ideas 
founded on such laws as we find there ! 

VI. But we have still to go further and far higher. 
The world of reason and of morality is a part of the 
same creation, as the world of matter and of sense. 
The will of man is swayed by rational motives ; its 
workings are inevitably compared with a rule of action; 
he has a conscience which speaks of right and wrong. 
These are laws of man's nature no less than the laws 
of his material existence, or his animal impulses. Yet 
what entirely new conceptions do they involve ? How 
incapable of being resolved into, or assimilated to, the 
results of mere matter, or mere sense ! Moral good 
and evil, merit and demerit, virtue and depravity, if 
ever they are the subjects of strict science, must belong 
to a science which views these things, not with reference 
to time or space, or mechanical causation, not with 
reference to fluid or ether, nervous irritabihty or 
corporeal feehng, but to their own proper modes of 
conception ; with reference to the relations with which 
it is possible that these notions may be connected, and 
not to relations suggested by other subjects of a 
completely extraneous and heterogeneous nature. And 
according to such relations must the laws of the moral 
world be apprehended, by any intelligence which con- 
templates them at all. 

There can be no wider interval in philosophy than 
the separation which must exist between the laws of 
mechanical force and motion, and the laws of free 
moral action. Yet the tendenc}^ of men to assume, in 



322 



EELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



the portions of human knowledge which are out of 
their reach, a similarity of type to those with which 
they are familiar, can leap over even this interval. 
Laplace has asserted that " an intelligence which, at a 
given instant, should know all the forces by which 
nature is urged, and the respective situation of the 
beings of which nature is composed, if, moreover, it 
were sufficiently comprehensive to subject these data 
to calculation, would include in the same formula, the 
movements of the largest bodies of the universe and 
those of the slightest atom. Nothing would be uncer- 
tain to such an intelligence, and the future, no less 
than the past, would be present to its eyes." If we 
speak merely of mechanical actions, this miay perhaps 
be assumed to be an admissible representation of the 
nature of their connexion in the sight of the Supreme 
Intelligence. But to the rest of what passes in the 
world, such language is altogether inapplicable. A 
formula is a brief mode of denoting a rule of calculating 
in which numbers are to be used : and numerical 
measures are applicable only to things of which the 
relations depend on time and space. By such elements, 
in such a mode, how are we to estimate happiness and 
virtue, thought and will ? To speak of a formula with 
regard to such things, would be to assume that their 
laws must needs take the shape of those laws of 
the material world which our intellect most fully 
comprehends. A more absurd and unphilosophical 
assumption we can hardly imagine. 

We conceive, therefore, that the laws by which God 
governs His moral creatures reside in His mind, 



INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD. 323 

invested with that kind of generality, whatever it be, of 
which such laws are capable ; but of the character of 
such general laws, we know nothing more certainly 
than this, that it must be altogether different from the 
character of those laws which regulate the material 
world. The inevitable necessity of such a total differ- 
ence is suggested by the analogy of all the knowledge 
which we possess and all the conceptions which we can 
form. And, accordingly, no persons, except those 
whose minds have been biassed by some peculiar habit 
or course of thought, are likely to run into the confusion 
and perplexity which are produced by assimilating too 
closely the government and direction of voluntary 
agents to the production of trains of mechanical and 
physical phenomena. In whatever manner voluntary 
and moral agency depend upon the Supreme Being, it 
must be in some such way that they still continue to 
bear the character of will, action, and morality. And, 
though too exclusive an attention to material phe- 
nomena may sometimes have made physical philo- 
sophers blind to this manifest difference, it has been 
clearly seen and plainly asserted by those who have 
taken the most comprehensive views of the nature and 
tendency of science. "I believe," says Bacon, in his 
Confession of Faith, " that, at the first the soul of man 
was not produced by heaven or earth, but was breathed 
immediately from God : so that the ways and pro- 
ceedings of God ivith spirits are not included in nature ; 
that is in the latvs of heaven and earth; but are 
reserved to the law of His secret will and grace; 
wherein God worketh still, and resteth not from the 



324 



EELIGIOTJS VIEWS. 



work of redemption, as lie resteth from the work of 
creation ; but continneth worldng to the end of the 
world." We may be permitted to observe here, that, 
when Bacon has thus to speak of God's dealings with 
His moral creatures, he does not take his phraseology 
from those sciences which can offer none but false and 
delusive analogies ; but helps out the inevitable scanti- 
ness of our human knowledge, by words borrowed from 
a source more fitted to supply our imperfections. Our 
natural speculations cannot carry us to the ideas of 
' grace ' and ' redemption ; ' but in the wide blank 
which they leave, of all that concerns our hopes of the 
Divine support and favour, the inestimable knowledge 
which revelation, as we conceive, gives us, finds ample 
room and appropriate place. 

YII. Yet even in the view of our moral constitution 
which natural reason gives, we may trace laws that 
imply a personal relation to our Creator. How can we 
avoid considering that as a true view of man's being 
and place, without which his best faculties are never 
fully developed, his noblest energies never called out, 
his highest point of perfection never reached ? With- 
out the thought of a God over all, superintending 
our actions, approving our virtues, transcending our 
highest conceptions of good, man would never rise to 
those higher regions of moral excellence which we 
know him to be capable of attaining. " To deny a 
God," again says the great philosopher, " destroys 
magnanimity and the raismg of human natm-e; for 
take an example of a dog, and mark what a generosity 
and courage he will put on, when he finds himself 



INCOMPEEHENSTBLE NATURE OP GOD. 325 

maintained by a man ; who, to him, is instead, of a God, 
or melior natura : which courage is manifestly such, as 
that creature, without that confidence of a better 
nature than his own, could never attain. So man, 
when he resteth and assureth himself upon divine 
protection and favour, gathereth a force and faith, 
which human nature could not obtain. Therefore, as 
atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that it 
depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself 
above human frailty." * 

Such a law, then, of reference to a Supremely Good 
Being, is impressed upon our nature, as the condition 
and means of its highest moral advancement. And 
strange indeed it would be if we should suppose, that 
in a system where all besides indicates purpose and 
design, this law should proceed from no such origin ; 
and no less inconceivable, that such a law, purposely 
impressed upon man to purify and elevate his nature, 
should delude and deceive him. 

VIII. Nothing remains, therefore, but that the 
Creator, who, for purposes that even we can see to be 
wise and good, has impressed upon man this disposition 
to look to him for support, for advancement, for such 
happiness as is reconcilable with hoLmess ; — this 
tendency to beheve Him to be the union of all per- 
fection, the highest point of all intellectual and moral 
excellence ; — is in reality such a guardian and judge? 
such a good, and wise, and perfect Being, as we thus 
irresistibly conceive Him. It would indeed be extra- 
vagant to assert- that the imagination of the creature, 

* Bacon. Essay on Atheism. 



326 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



itself the work of God, can invent a higher point of 
goodness, of justice, of holiness, than the Creator 
Himself possesses : that the Eternal Mmd, from whom 
our notions of good and right are derived, is not Him- 
self directed by the rules which these notions imply. 

It is difficult to dwell steadily on such thoughts : 
but they will at least serve to confirm the reflection 
which it was our object to illustrate ; namely, how 
incomparably the nature of God must be elevated 
above any conceptions which our natural reason enables 
us to form : and we have been led to these views, it 
will be recollected, by following the clue of which 
science gave us the beginning. The Divine Mind 
must be conceived by us as the seat of those laws of 
nature which we have discovered. It must be no less 
the seat of those laws which we have not yet discovered, 
though these may and must be of a character far 
different from anything we can guess. The Supreme 
Intelligence must therefore contain the laws, each 
according to their true dependence, of organic life, 
of sense of animal impulse, and must contain also the 
purpose and intent for which these powers were put in 
play. But the Governing Mind must comprehend also 
the laws of the responsible creatures which the world 
contains, and must entertain the purposes for which 
their responsible agency was given them. It must 
include these laws and purposes, connected by means 
of the notions, which responsibihty implies, of desert 
and reward, of moral excellence in various degrees, and 
of well-bemg as associated with right doing. All the 
laws which govern the moral world are expressions of 



INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OE GOD. 327 

the thought and intentions of our Supreme Ruler. All 
the contrivances for moral no less than for physical 
good, for the peace of mind, and other rewards of 
virtue, for the elevation and purification of individual 
character, for the civilisation and refinement of states, 
their advancement in intellect and virtue, for the 
diffusion of good, and the repression of evil : all the 
blessings that wait on perseverance and energy in a 
good cause ; on unquenchable love of mankind, and 
unconquerable devotedness to truth ; on purity and 
self-denial ; on faith, hope, and charity ; — all these 
things are indications of the character, will, and future 
intentions of that God, of whom we have endeavoured 
to track the footsteps upon earth, and to show His 
handiwork in the heavens. " This God is our God, 
for ever and ever." And if, endeavouring to trace 
the plan of the vast labyrinth of laws by which the 
universe is governed, we are sometimes lost and 
bewildered, and can scarcely, or not at all, discern the 
lines by which pain, and sorrow, and vice, fall in with 
a scheme directed to the strictest right and greatest 
good, we yet find no room to faint or falter ; knowing 
that these are the darkest and most tangled recesses 
of our knowledge ; that into them science has as yet 
cast no ray of light ; that in them reason has as yet 
caught sight of no general law by which we may 
securely hold : while, in those regions where we can 
see clearly, where science has thrown her strongest 
illumination upon the scheme of creation; where we 
have had displayed to us the general laws which give 
rise to all the multifarious variety of particular facts; — 



328 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



we find all full of wisdom, and harmony, and beauty : 
and all this wise selection of means, this harmonious 
combination of laws, this beautiful symmetry of rela - 
tions, directed, with no exception which human investi- 
gation has yet discovered, to the preservation, the 
diffusion, the well-being of those living things, which, 
though of their nature we know so little, we cannot 
doubt to be the worthiest objects of the Creator's care. 



THE END. 



LONDON : 

BRADI5UEY AND EVANS, PPaNTESS, WHITEFEIAFS. 



a ^cktt Catalogue of 
NEW BOOKS AT EEDUCED PKICES, 

PUBLISIIKU on SOLD BY 

HENRY G. BOHN, 

YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON. 



THE COUPLXTE CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS AND EEMAINDEES, IN 100 PAGES KA1 
BE HAD GRATIS. * 

%* All Ike Books advertised in the present Catalogue are neatly boarded in cloth, 

or bound. 



FINE ARTS, ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, PAINTING, HERALDRY, 
ANTIQUITIES, TOPOGRAPHY, SPORTING, PICTORIAL AND HIGHL? 
ILLUSTRATED WORKS, ETC. ETC. 



\NGLER S SOUVENIR. Fcap. Svo, emhellished with upwards of 60 beautiful En)?ravin(rs on 
Steel by Beckwitii and Topham, and hundreds of engraved Borders, every page beitiir s\ir- 
ro«nded (pub. at 18s.), cloth, gilt, Os. j'ilt, 1S3C 

ARTIST'S BOOK OF FABLES, comprising a Series of Original Fables, illustrated by 2m 
exquisitely beautiful ICntrravini^s on Wood, by Harvey and other eminent Artists, after De- 
sig-ns by the late James Nokihcote, K.A. Post Svo, Portrait (pub. at 1/. ij.), cloth, 
gilt, 9s. j84i 

BARBER'S ISLE OF WIGHT. 42 fine Steel Plates, and Dr. Manxell's Geological Map. 
Svo, gilt, cloth, lOs. Gd. jgig 

BEWICK'S SELECT FABLES, with a Memoir, 8vo, with several Portraits of Bewick, and 
upwards of 330 Engravings on Wood, original impressions (pub. at U. Is.), bds. 10s« 

Newcastle, 1820 

BILLINGTON'S ARCHITECTURAL DIRECTOR, being an approved Guide to Archi- 
tccts, Drauirhtsnien, Students, Builders, and Workmen, to which is added a History of the 
Art. &c. and a Glossai y of Architecture. New Edition, enlarged, Svo, 100 Plates, cloth lettered' 
(pub. at \l. 8s.) 10s. (id. 18J« 

BOOK OF COSTUME, from the earliest period to the present time. Upwardsof 200 beautiful 
Engravings on Wood, by Linton. Svo (pub. at 1/. Is.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 10s. Cd. 1847 

BOOK OF GEMS, OR THE POETS AND ARTISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

3 vols. 8vo. 1.50 exquisite Line Engravings after Turner, Bonikgton, Landseer, Roberts, 
MuLREADY, etc. etc.; also numerous Autographs (pub. at 41. lis. 6d.) Cloth elegantly gilt, 
21. 5s., or in morocco, 3/. 3s. 

BOOK or GEMS, OR THE MODERN POETS AND ARTISTS OF GREAT 

BRITAIN. 8vo. 50 exquisitely beautiful Line Bogravings after Turner, Boningion, etc. 
etc. (pub. at ii. lis. Cd.), cloth elegantly gilt, 15s., or morocco, 1^. Is. 1814 

BOOK OF RAPHAELS CARTOONS, BY CATTERMOLE. Svo. with an exquisite 
Portrait of Raphael, a View of Hampton Court, and seven very highly finished Steel Engrav- 
ings of the celebrated Cartoons at Hamptoi. Court (pub. at las.), cloth, gilt, 7s. 6d. 1845 

BOOK OF SHAKSPEARE GEMS. A Series of Landscape Il'ustrations of the most inte- 
resting localities of Shakspeare's Dramas; with Historical and Descriptive Accounts, by 
Washikgion Irving, Jesse, W. Howitt, Wordsworth, Inglis. and otheTS. Svo, 
vriih 45 hisfhly-finished Steel Engravings (pub. at 11. lU. 6d.) gilt cloth, Us. '^ii 

BOOK OF WAVER LY GEMS. A Series of 64 hiehly-Baiohed Line Engravings of tb' lAOSt 
interestino- Inciaeuts ami scenery in Wditer Scott's Xoveis, oy xieath, riNDEK, Roll." «nd 
ethers, after Pictures by Lf.slik, Stothard, Cooper, Hc.waw, &c., with illustrative kW»t- 
vress, Svo. (pub. at 11. Us. dd,), cloth, elegautly gilt, 15*. 

li 



2 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



BROCKEDON S PASSES OF THE ALPS 2 vols, medium 4to. Containing 109 beautifu. 

Engravings (pub. at lol. 10s. in boards), half-bound morcoco, gilt edges, 3U 133. 6d. 1820 

BRITTON S CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF LINCOLN, 4to, 16 fine Plates, by Lb Keux, 
■ ~ . - • 6d. 1837 

, and is wanting In most of 



(pub. at 3/. 3s.), cloth, \l. 3s. Royal 4to, Large Paper, cloth' 1^. IJt. 6d. 1837 
This voiunie was published to complete Mr. Britton's Cathedrals, anc" ■ 



BRYAN'S DICTIONARY OF PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS. New Edition, cor- 

rpcted, greatly eularged, and continued to che present time, by GtoRGK Stanley, £sq^ com- 
plete in one larx* volume, impl. 8vo, numerous plates of monograms, 21. 2s. 

BULWER S PILGRIMS OF THE RHINE. 8vo. Embellished with 27 exooisite Line En- 

gravings after David Roberts, Maclise, and Parris (pub. at 11. lis. 6d.}, cloth giJt, U*. 

BURNETTS ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS ON 

PAINTING. 4to, 12 fine Plates, cloth (pub. at 21. 2s.), U. Is. 1842 
■ the same, large paper, royal 4to, proof impressions of Plates, cloth (pub. at 41 ii.), 21. 2s. 

CANOVA'S WORKS, engraved in outline by Moses, with Descriptions and a Biographica' 
Memoir by Cicognara. 3 vols. imp. 8vo, Ij5 plates, and fine Portrait by Worthington, half- 
bound morocco (pub. at 6(. 12s.) 21. 5s. 

• the same, 3 vols. 4to, large paper, half-bound, uncut (pub. at 9^ IBs.), il i$. 

• the same, 3 vols. 4to, large paper, India Proofs, in parts, (pub. at lol. 15s.) 71. 10». 

CARTER S ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLAND. lUustrated by I03 Copper- 

■ plate Engravings, comprising upwards of Tw o Thousand specimens. Edited by John Brit- 
ton, Esq. Royal folio (pub. at 12/. 12s.), half-bound morocco, il. is. 1837 

CARTERS ANCIENT SCULPTURE AND PAINTING NOW REMAINING 

IN ENGLAND, from the Earliest Period to the Rt ign of Henrv VIII. With Historical and 
Critical Illustrations, by Douce, Gough, Meyr. ck, D.iwsdx Turner, and Brittox. 
Royal folio, with i20 large Engravings, many of whi -h are beautifully coloured, and several 
illuminated with gold (pub. at 15^. 13s.), naif bound morocco, 8/. 8s. 1838 

CARTER S GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, and Ai cient Buildings in England, with 120 
Views, etched by himself. 4 vols, square 12mo (pub. . it 21. 2s.), half morocco, 18*. 1824 

CATLIN'S NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 2 va to. impl. 8vo. 360 Engravings (pub. at 

21. 12s. 6d.), cloth, emblematically gilt, U. 10*. 1848 

CATTERMOLE'S EVENINGS AT HADDON HA .L. 24 exquisite Engravings on Steel, 
from Designs by himself. Post 8vo (originally pub. at \l. lis. 6d.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 7s. fid. 

CHAMBERLAINE'S IMITATIONS OF DRAWINJS from the Great Masters, in the 

Royal Collection, engraved by Bartolozzi and others, impl. fol. 70 Plates (pub. at 121. I2s.), 
half-bound morocco, gilt edges, 51. 5s. 

CLAUDES LIBER VERITATIS. A Collection of 300 Engravings in imitation of the original 
Drawinss of Claude, by Earlom. 3 vols, folio (pub. at Zll. 10s.), half-bound morocco, gilt 
edges, 10/. 10s. 

CLAUDE, BEAUTIES OF, 24 FINE ENGRAVINGS, containing some of his choicest 
Landscapes, beautifully Engraved on Steel, folio, with descriptiv" letter-press, and Portrait, 
in a portfolio (pub. at 3/. 12s.), 1/. 5s. 

COESVELT S PICTURE GALLERY. With an Introduction by Mrs. Jameson. Royal 4to 
90 Plates beautif Uly engraved in outline. India Proofs (pub, at 51. 5s.), half-bound morocco 
extra, 3/. 3s. 1836 

COOKE S SHIPPING AND CRAFT. A Series of 65 brilliant Etchings, comprising Pictur- 
esque, but at the same time extremely accurate Representations. RoyaUto (pub. at ii. ISs. 6d.J, 
gilt cloth, U. lis. 6d. 

COOKES PICTURESQUE SCENERY OF LONDON AND ITS VICINITY, so beau- 

tiful Etchings, after Drawings by Calcott, Stakfield, Proui, Robkrts, riARDiNG, 
StaRK, and Cotman. Royal 4to. Proofs (pub. at 5/.), gilt cloth, 2i. 2s. 

CONEYS FOREIGN CATHEDRALS, HOTELS DE VILLE, TOWN HALLS, 

AND OTHER RE.VIARKABLE BCILDINGS IN FRANCE, HOLLAND, GER.MANY, 
AND ITALY. 32 fine large Plates. Imperial folio (pub. at 10/. lOs.), half morocco, gilt edges, 
3U 13i. 6d. 1842 

CORNWALL, /N ILLUSTRATED ITINERARY OF; including Historical and Descrip ■ 
tive Accounts. Imperial 8vo, illustrated by US beautiful Engraviiiiis on Steel ai'd Wood, by 
Landells, H.kl-hci-iffe, Jackson, Williams, Sly, etc. after drawings by CaaswicK. 
(Pub. at 16s.), half morocco, 8s. 1812 
Cornwall is undoubtedly the most interesting county in England. 

CORONATION OF GEORGE THE FOURTH, by sir George Naylkr, In a Series of 

above 49 magnificent Paintings of the Procession, Ceremonial, and Banquet, comprehending 
faithful portraits of many of the distinguished Individuals who were present; with historical 
and descriptive letter press, atlas folio (pub. at 52L 10*.), half bovmd morocco, gill edges, 
12^. 12s. 

COTMAN'S SEPULCHRAL BRASSES !N NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK, te.iding to 
Illustrate the Ecclesiastical, Military, and Civil Cost'jme of former ages, wit i Letter-press 
Lcicriptia;.s, etc. by Dawson Turneh, Sir S. Meyt.ick, etc. 173 Plates. The enamelled 
Brasses are snleudidly illumijiated, 2 vols. impl. 4to half-bound morocco, gilt edges, 6/. 6s. 1W6. 

■ '-cs saae, iarg": pap«r, imperii^ foiij, haxf :!ii;xocco, g'-It ciiss, 8.'. 8*. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 



s 



COTMAN S ETCHINGS OF ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS in various cou/ities in 
England, with Letter-press Descriptions by Rickman. 2 vols, imperiar folio, containing ii9 
ni^hly spirited Etchings (pub. at 2il.), half morocco, 8^. 8s. 1838 

DANIELLS ORIENTAL SCENERY AND ANTIQUITIES. The original mairnificent 
edition, 150 splendid coloured Views, on the largest scale, of the Architecture, Antiquities, and 
Landscape Scenery of Kindoostan, 6 vols, in 3, elephant folio (pub. at 210^.], elegantly half- 
bound morocco, o2L lOs. 

DANIELLS ORIENTAL SCENERY, 6 vols, in 3, small folio, 150 Plates (pub. at m. 18*. 

half-l)ound morocco, 61. 6s. 
This is reduced TrDEi the preceding largs work, and is uncoloured. 

DANIELL'S ANIMATED NATURE, being Picturesque Delineations of the most interesting 

Subjects from all Branches of Natural History, 125 Engravings, with Leiter-pres-- '^ca.. iptiou* 
2 vols, small folio (pub. at Ibl. 15s.), half morocco (uniform with the Oriental Scenery), 31. os. 

DON QUIXOTE, PICTORIAL EDITION. Translated by Jarvis, carefully revised. 
With a copious original M emoir of Cervantes. Illustrated by upwards of 820 beautiful Wood 
Engravings, after the celebrated Designs of Tony Johannot, including 16 new and beautiful 
large Cuts, by ARMsmofiG, now tirst added. 2 vols, royal 8vo (pub. at 21, lOs.), cloth gi.t, 
U. 8s. 1813 

DUL^ GALLERY, a Series of 50 Beautifully Coloured Plates from the most Celebrated 
PiciJur in this Remarkable Collection; executed by R. Cockeurn (Custodian). All 
mounted on Tinted Card-lioard in the manner of Drawings, imperial folio, including 4 very 
large additional Plates, published separately at from 3 to 4 guineas each, and not before 
included in the Series. In a handsome portfolio, with morocco hack (pub. at 40/.), 161. I6s, 

" This is one of the most splendid and interesting of the British Picture Galleries, and has 
for some years been quite unattainable, even at the full price." 

EGYPT AND THE PYRAMIDS.— COL. VYSES GREAT WORK ON THE 

PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. With an Appendix, by J. S. Perring, Esq., on the Pyramids at 
Abou Roash, the Fayoum, &c. &c. 2 vols, imperial 8vo, with 60 Plates, lithographed by 
Hague (pub. at 21. 12s. 6U.), 11. Is. ISio 

EGYPT— PERRINGS FIFTY-EIGHT LARGE VIEWS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF 

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, ABOU ROASH, &c. Drawn from actual Survey and 
Admeasurement. With Notes and Rel'erences to Col. Vyse's great Work, also to Denon, the 
great French Work on Egypt, Roselliai, Belzoni, Burckhardt, Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Lane, 
and others. 3 Parts, elephant folio, the size of the great French " Eg^pte" (pub. at 15^. las.) 
in printed wrappers, 3/. 3s.; half-bound morocco, 41. 14s. 6d. 1842 

ENGLEFIELD'S ISLE OF WIGHT. 4to. so large Plates, Engraved by Cooke, and a Geo 
logical Map (pub. 71. 7s.), cloth, 2(!. as. Igjg 

FLAXMAN'S HOMER. Seventy-five beautiful Compositions to the Iliad and Odyssey 
engraved under Flaxman's inspection, by Pirou, Moses, and Blake. 2 vols, oblong folio 
(pub. at ol. 5s.), boards 21. 2s. ° jgQ^ 

FLAXMAN'S /ESCHYLUS, Thirty-six beautiful Compositions from. Oblong folio (pub at 
21. 12s. 6d.), boards U. is. ^ isn 

FLAXMAN'S HESIOD, Thirty-seven beautiful Compositions from. Oblong folio (pub at 
21. 12s. 6d.), boards U. 5s. jgjy 
" Flaxman's unequalled Compositions from Homer, jEschylus, and Hesiod, have long 
been the admiration of Europe; of their simplicity and beauty the pen is quite incapable of 
conveying an adequate impression."— Sir Thomas Lawrence. 

FLAXMAN'S ACTS OF MERCY. A Series of Eight Compositions, in the manner of 

Ancient Sculpture, engraved in imitation of the original Drawings, by F. C. Lewis. Oblong 
folio (pub. at 2(1. 2s.), half-hound morocco, 16j. ^' ' v^^^is. WDwng 

FROISSART, ILLUMINATED ILLUSTRATIONS OF. Seventy-four Plates, printed in 

Gold and Colours. 2 vols, super-royal svo, hall-bound, uncut (pub. at it. 10s.), 31. lOs. 
• the same, large paper, 2 vols, royal 4to, half-bound, uncut (pub. atltti. 10s.), 6/. 6». 

GELL AND CANDY'S POMPEIANA; or, f^pography. Edifices, and Ornaments o/ 
Pompeii. Original Series, containing the Resifet-of the Excavations previous to i819 2 vol*, 
royal svo. best edition, with upwards of lOO beautiful Line Engravings by Goodall, Cookb 
Heath, Pye, etc. (pub. at 71. 4s.), boards, 3/. 3s. 182^ 

GEMS OF ART, 36 FINE -E'NGRAVfNGS, after Rembrandt, Cdyp, Reynolds, Pot/a- 
si.N, Muuij.io, Temers, Corregio, Va.ndervelde, folio, proof impressions, in nortfolio 
(pub. at8/.8s.), U. Us. 6rf. inviiu 

CILLRAY'S CARICATURES, printed from the Original Plates, all engraved by himself 
between 1779 and 1810, comprising the best Political and Humorous Satires of the Reign of 
George the Third, in upwards of tiuo highly spirited Engravings. In I large vol. atlas folio 
(exactly uniform with the origuial' Hogarth, as sold by the advertises 1, haif-bQund Ted morocco ; 
extra, gilt edges, »L 8s. 

GILPINS PRACTICAL HINTS UPON LANDSCAPE GARDENING, with soni* 

Remarks on Domestic ArcLiteclure. Royal ?vo, iMates, cloth (pub. at \L.),.7s. 

GOETHES FAUST, ILLUSTRATED BY RET2SCH in 26 beautiful Outlines. Royal 
^tpjipuD. at U. Is.), gill cloth, U)s. Cd. 
This e(?iUon contains a iransUtioa of the original poem, wiin Historical and descriptive notei. 

B 2 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



GOODWIN'S DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE A Series of New Designs for Mansions, 
Villas, Kectory-Houses. Parsoiiage-Hnu.ses; Bailiff's, Gardener's, Gamekeeper's, and Park- 
Gate Lodges: Cottages and other Residences, in tlie Grecian, Italian, and Old Englisli Style 
of Architecture : with Estimates. 2 vols, royal 4to, 90 Plates (pub. at al. 5s.), cloth, 21. I2s. 6d. 

'^RINDLAYS (CAPT.) VIEWS IN INDIA, SCENERY, COSTUMF, AND ARCHI- 
TECTURE : chii 0.- m the Western Side of India. Atlas 4to. Consisting of 3G most beauti- 
fully coloured Plates, highly finished, in imitation of Drawings; with Descriptive Lettei- 
press. (Pub. at \2l. 12s.), half-bound morocco, gilt edges, 8/. Si. 1830 
This is perhaps the most exquisitely-coloured volume of landscapes ever produced. 

fiANSARD'S ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF ARCHERY. Being the complete History and 
Practice of the Art: interspersed with numerous Anecdotes; forming a complete Manual for 
tht Vowman. Svo. Illustrated by 39 beautiful Line Engravings, exquisitely finished, by 
ExGLEHtART, PoRTBURY, etc., after Designs by Stephanoff (pub. at ll. lU.Ot/.), gilt cloth, 

HARRIS'S GAME AND WILD ANIMALS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. Large impl. 
folio. 30 beau'tifully coloured Engravings, with 30 Vignettes of Heads, Skins, &c. (pub. at 
10/. 10s.), hf. morocco, 61. 6s. 1814 

HARRIS'S WILD SPORTS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. Impl. 8vo. 26 beautifully co- 
loured Engravings, and a Map (pub. at 21. 2s.), giit cloth, gilt edges, U, Is. 1844 

•HEATH'S CAR'CATURE SCRAP BOOK, on 60 Sheets, containing upwards of lOOO Comic 
Subjects after Seymour, Cruikshank, Phiz, and other eminent Caricaturists, oblong folio 
Jpuh. at 21. 2,«.), cloth, gilt, los. 

This clever and entertaining volume is now enlarged by ten additional sheets, each con- 
taining numerous siihjects. It includes the whole of Heath's Omnium Gatherum, both Scries; 
Illustrations of Demoiiology and Witchcraft ; Old Ways and New Ways; Nautical Dictionary; 
Scenes in London; Sayings' and Doings, etc.; a series of humorous illustrations of Proverbs, 
etc. As a largp and almost infinite storehouse of humour it stands alone. To the young 
artist it would be found a most valuable collection of studies; and to the faawly circle a con- 
stant source of unexceptionable amusement. 

HOGARTH'S WORKS ENGRAVED BY HIMSELF. 153 fine Plates (Including the two 
well-known " suppressed Plates"), with elaborate Letter- press Descriptions, by J. Nichols. 
Atlas folio (pub. at boL), half-bound morocco, gilt back and edges, with a secret pocket for 
suppressed plates, Tl. 7s. 1822 

HOLBEIN'S COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH. A Series of so exquisitely beautiful 
Portraits, engraved by Bartoi.ozzi, Cooper, and others, in imitation of the original' 
Drawings preserved in the Royal Collection at Windsor; with Historical and Biographicall 
Letter-presi by Edmund Lodge, Esq. Published by John Chamberlaine. Imperial 4to 
(pub. at 151. \as.), half-bound morocco, full gilt back and edges, il. 13s. 6d. 1812 

HOFLANDS BRITISH ANGLER'S MANUAL; Edited by Edward Jesse, Esq.; or, 
the Art of Angling in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; including a Piscatorial Account 
of the principal Rivers, Lakes, and Trout Streams; with Instructions in Fly Fishing, Trolling, 
and Angling of every Description. With upwards of 80 exquisite Plates, many of which are 
highly-finished Landscapes engraved on Steel, the remainder beautifully engraved on Wood. 
Svo, elegant in gilt cloth, 12i. 184S 

HOPE'S COSTUME OF THE ANCIENTS, illustrated in upwards of 320 beautifully- 
engraved Plates, containing Representations of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Habits and 
Dresses. 2 vols, royal Svo, New Edition, with nearly 20 additional Plates, boards, reduced 
to 2i. 5s. 1841 

HOWARD (FRANK) ON COLOUR, as a Means of Art, being an adaptation of the Expe- 
rience of Professors to the practice of Amateurs, illustrated by 18 coloured Plates, post Svo, 
cloth gilt, 8j. 

In this able volume are shown the ground colours in which the most celebrated painters 
worked. It is very valuable to the connoisseur, as well as the student, in painting and water- 
colour drawing. 

HOWARD'S (HENRY, R. A.) LECTURES ON PAINTING. Delivered at the Royal 
Academy, with a Memoir, by his son, Frank Howard, large po.stSvo, cloth, 7*. Cd. 184S 

HOWARD'S (FRANK) SPIRIT QF SHAKSPEARE. 483 fine outline Plates, illustrative of 
all the principal Incidents in the Dramas of our national Bard, 5 vols. Svo (pub. at UL 8s.), 
cloth, 21. 2s. 1827—33 
*»* The 483 Plates may be had without the letter-press, for illustrating all Svo editions of 
Shakspeare, for ll. lis. 6d. 

HUMPHREY'S (H. NOEL) ART OF ILLUMINATION AND MISSAL PAINTING, 

illustrated with 12 splendid Examples from the Great Masters of the Art, selected from Missals, 
all beautifully illuminated. Square 12mo, decorated binding, ll. Is. 

HUMPHREY'S COINS OF ENGLAND, a Sketch of the progress of the English Coinage? 
from the earliest period to the present time, with 228 beautiful fac- similes of the most interest- 
ing specimens, illuminated in gold, silver, and copper, square Svo, neatly decorated binding, 18*. 

HUNTS EXAMPLES OF TUDOR ARCHITECTURE ADAPTED TO MODERN 

HABITATIONS. Royal 4to, 37 Plates (pub. at 21. 2s.), half morocco ll. is. 

HUNT'S DESIGNS FOR PARSONAGE-HOUSES, ALMS-HOUSES, ETC. Royal 
i*.o, 2/ Plates (p"b. at 1/. half moruoeo, ]*». iUi 



I 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 



5 



HUNTS DESIGNS FOR GATE LODGES, GAMEKEEPERS' COTTAGES, ETC. 
Royal 4to, 13 Plates (puu. &t U. U.), half morocco, lis. 184 1 

HUNT'S ARCHITETTURA CAMPESTRE: OR, DESIGNS FOR LODGES, GAR- 
DENERS' HOUSES, etc. IN THE ITALIAN STYLE. 12 Plates, royal 4to (pub. at 
i;. U.), half morocco, Hs. 1827 

ILLUMINATED BOOK OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS, square 8vo. 24 Borders illuminated 
in Gold and Colours, and 4 beautiful Miniatures, richly Ornamented Binding {pub. at It. is.), 
153. 1846 

ILLUMINATED BOOK OF NEEDLEWORK, By Mrs, Owen, with a Hist »ry of Needle- 
work, by the Countess of Wilton, Coloured Plates, post Svo (pub. at 18*.), gilt cloth, 9s. 1847 

ILLUMINATED CALENDAR FOR 1850. Copied from a celebrated Missal known as the 
" Hours" of the Duke of Anjou, imperial 8vo, 30 exquisite Miniatures and Borders, in gold and 
colours, Ornamented Binding (pub. at 21. 2s.), 15s. 

♦ LLUSTRATED FLY-FISHER'S TEXT BOOK. A Complete Giude to the Science of Trout> 
and Salmon Fishing. By Theophilds South, Gent. (Ed. Chitty, Barrister). With 
23 beautiful Engravings on Steel, alter Paintings by CooPER, Newton, Fielding, Lee, and 
others. Svo (pub. at 11. lis. 6d.). cloth, gilt, 10s. Od. 1845 

ITALIAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN. Consisting of 100 Plates, chiefly engraved by Barto- 
Lozzi, after the original Pictures and Drawings of Guercino, Michael Angelo, Domeni- 
CHINO, Annibale, Ludovico, and Ac-ostino C>racci, Pietro da Cortona, Carlo Ma- 
RATTi, and others, in the Collection of Her Majesty. Imperial 4to (pub. at lol. 10s.), half mo- 
rocco, gilt edges, 3/. 3s. 1842 

JAMES' (G. P. R.) BOOK OF THE PASSIONS, royal 8vo, illustrated with 16 splendid 
Line Engravings, after drawings by Edward Courbould Stepha&off Chalon, Kenny 
Meadows, and Jenkins; engraved under the superintendence of CTiarles Heath. New 
and improved edition (just published), elegant in gilt cloth, gilt edges (pub. at 11. Us. 6d.), 
12s. 

JAMESON'S BEAUTIES OF THE COURT OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 2 vols, 
impl. 8vo, 21 beautiful Portraits (pub. at 21. 5s.], cloth, 11. Is. 1838 

JOHNSON'S SPORTSMAN'S CYCLOPEDIA of the Science and Practice of the Field, the 
Turf, and the Sod, or operations of the Chase, the Course, and the Stream, in one very thick 
vol. Svo, illustrated with upwards of 50 Steel Engravings, after Cooper, Ward, Hancock., and 
others (pub. at 11. lis. Gd.), cloth, 15s. 

KNIGHT'S (HENRY GALLY), ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF ITALY, 

FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. With an 
Introduction and Text. Imperial folio. First Series, containing 40 beautiful and highly inte- 
resting Views of Ecclesiastical Buildings in Italy, several of which are expensively illuminated 
in gold and colours, half-bound morocco, oi. 5s. 1843 
Second and Concluding Series, containing 41 beautiful and highly- interesting Views of Eccle- 
siastical Buildings in Italy, arranged in Chronological Order; with Descriptive Letter-press. 
Imperial folio, half-bound morocco, 5l. 5s. 1844 

KNIGHT'S (HENRY GALLY) SARACENIC AND NORMAN REMAINS. To illus- 
trate the Normans in Sicily. Imperial folio. .SO large Engravings, consisting of Picturesque 
Views, Architectural Remains, Interiors and Exteriors of Buildings, with Descriptive Letter- 
press. Coloured like Drawings, half-bound morocco, 8^. 8s. 1846 
But very few copies are now first executed in this expensive manner. 

KNIGHT'S PICTORIAL LONDON. 6 vols, bound in 3 thick handsome vols, imperial 8yo, 
illustrated by 650 Wood Engravings (pub. at 31. 3s.), cloth, gilt, 11. 18s. 1841-44 

LONDON.-WILKINSON S LONDINA ILLUSTRATA ; OR, GRAPHIC AND 
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS of the most Interesting and Curious Architectural 
Monuments of the City and Suburbs of London and Westminster, e.j/., Monasteries, Churches, 
Charitable Foundations, Palaces, Halls, Courts, Processions, Places of early Amusements, 
Theatres, and Old Houses. 2 vols, imperial 4to, containing 207 Copper-plate Engravings, with 
Historical and Descriptive Letter-press (pub. at 26/. os.), half-bound morocco, 51. 3s. 1819-25 

LOUDON'S EDITION OF REPTON ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING AND 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. New Edition, 250 Wood Cuts, Portrait, thick Svo, cloth 
lettered (pub. at 1/. IDs.), 15s. 

LYSONS ENVIRONS OF LONDON; being an Historical Account of the Towns, Villages 
and Hamlets in the Counties of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Herts, and Middlesex, 5 vols. 4to, Plates 
(pub. at 10/. 10s.), cloth, 21. 10s. 
The same, large paper, 3 vols, royal 4to (pub. at 15/. 15s.), cloth, 3/. 3s. 

MACGREGOR'S PROGRESS OF AMERICA FROM THE DISCOVERY BY 

COLUMBUS, to the year 1846, comprising its History and Statistics, 2 remarkably thick 
volumes, imperial Svo. cloth lettered (pub. at il. Us. 6d.), 1/. lis. 6d. 1847 

MARTIN'S CIVIL COSTUME OF ENGLAND, from the Conquest to the Present PenodU 
from Tapestry, MSS. &c, iioyai «o 6) f laies, ('•autifully Illuminated in Gold and Colours, 
Cloth, yUt, ai, 12t. Qd. ua 



6 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



MEYRICK'S PAINTED ILLUSTRATIONS OF ANCIENT ARMS AND ARMOUR, 

a Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour as it existed in Europe, but particularly in Eiifrland, 
from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of Charles II, with a Glossary, etc. by Siii Samuel 
Rush Meyrick, LL.D., F.S.A., etc., new and greatly improved Edition, corrected and en- 
larged throughout by the Author himself, with the assistance of Literary and Antiquarian 
Friends (Albert Wav, etc.), 3 vols, imperial 4to, illustrated by more than 100 Plates, 
splendidly illuminated, mostly in gold and silver, exhibiting some of the finest Specimens 
existing in England; also a new Plate of the Tournament of Locks and Keys (pub. at 21/.), 
half-bound morocco, gilt edges, lOl. lOs. 1844 
Sir Walter Scott justly describes this collection as "the ikcompaaable ARMOBsy." 
^Edinburgh Review. 

MEYRICK S DESCRIPTION OF ANCIENT ARMS AND ARMOUR, in the Collec 
lion of Goodrich Court, loO Engravings by Jos. Skelton, 2 vols, folio (pab. atlW. llj.), 
half morocco, top edges gilt, il. lis. 6d. 

MILLINGEN'S ANCIENT UNEDITED MONUMENTS; comprising Painted Greek 
Vases, Statues, Busts, Bas-Reliefs, and other Remains of Grecian Art. 62 large and beautiful 
Engravings, mostly coloured, with Letter-press Descriptions, imperial 4to (pub, at 91. 9s.), 
half morocco, il. lis. Gd. 1822 

MOSES' ANTIQUE VASES, CANDELABRA, LAMPS, TRIPODS, PATERyt, 

Tazzas, Tombs, Mausoleums, Sepulchral Chambers, Cinerary Urns, Sarcophagi, Cippi ; and 
other Ornaments, 170 Plates, several of which are coloured, with Letter-press, by Hoi'E, small 
8vo (pub. atSi. 3s.), cloth, U. os. 1814 

MURPHY'S ARABIAN ANTIQUITIES OF SPAIN; representing, in 100 very highly 
finished line Engravings, by Le Keux, Findbn, Landsker, G. Cooke, &c., the most 
remarkable Remains of the Architecture, Sculpture, Paintings, and Mosaics of the Spanish 
Arabs now existing in the Peninsula, including the magnificent Palace of Allian\bra; the 
celebrated Mosque and Bridge at Cordova; the Royal Villa of Generaliffe; and the Casa de 
Carbon: accompanied by Letter-press Descriptions, in 1 vol. atlas folio, original and brilliant 
impres.sions of the Plates (pub. at i2L), half morocco, 12/. 12j. 1813 

MURPHY'S ANCIENY CHURCH OF BATALHA, IN PORTUGAL, Plans, Ele- 
vations, Sections, and Views of the; with its History and Description, and an Introductory! 
Discourse on GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, imperial folio, 27 fine Copper Plates, engraved 
by LowRY (pub. at 6/. 6s.), half morocco, 21. 8s. 1795 

NAPOLEON GALLERY; Or Illustrations of the Life and Times of the Emperor, with 9» 
Etchings on Steel by Reveil, and other eminent Artists, in one thick volume post 8vo. (pub. 
at U. Is.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, lOs. 6rf. 1846 

NICOLASS (SIR HARRIS) HISTORY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD 

OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE; with an Account ol the Medals, Crosses, and Clasps which 
have been conferred for Naval and Military Services ; together with a History of the Order of 
the Guelphs of Hanover. 4 vols, imperial 4to, splendidly printed and illustrated by numerous 
fine W^oodcuts of Badges, Crosses, Collars, Stars, Medals, Ribbands, Clasps, etc. and many 
large Plates, illuminated in gold and colours, including full-length Portraits of Q.ueen Vic- 
toria, Prince Albert, the King of Hanover, and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. (Pub. 
at 14/. lis.), cloth, with morocco backs, SI. 15s. 6d. *»* Complete to 1847 

the same, with the Plates richly coloured but not illuminated, and without the 
extra portraits, 4 vols, royal 4to. cloth, 3/. ICs. 6d. 

"Sir Harris Nicolas has produced the first comprehensive History of the British Orders of 
Knighthood- and it. is one of the most elaborately prepared ami splendidly printed works that ever 
Usued from the press. The Author appears to us to have neglected no sources of information, 
and to have exhausted them, as far as regards the general scope and purpose of the inijuiry. 
The Graphical Illustrations are such as become a work of this character upon such a subject; 
at, of course, a lavish cost. The resources of the recently revived art of wood-engraving have 
been combined with the new art of printing in colours, so as to produce a rich effect, almost 
rivalling that of the monastic illuminations. Such a book is sure of a place in every great library. 
It contains matter calculated to interest extensive classes of readers, and we hope by our 
specimen to excite their curiosity." — Quarterly Review. 

NICHOLSON'S ARCHITECTURE; ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. 218 

Plates by Lowby, new edition, revised by Jos. Gwilt, Esq., one volume, royal 8vo, 
1/. lis. 6d. 1848 
For classical Architecture, the text hook of the Profession, the most useful Guide to the 
Student, and the best Compendium for the Amateur. An eminent Architect has declared 
it to be "not only the most useful book of the kind ever published, but absolutely indispen- 
sable to the Student." 

PICTORIAL HISTORY OF GERMANY DURING THE REIGN OF FREDERICK 

THE GREAT, including a complete History of the Seven Years' War. By Francis 
Kugler. Illustrated by Adolph Menzel. Royal 8vo, with above 500 Woodcuts (pub. at 
1/. 8s.), cloth gilt, 124. 1845 

PICTORIAL GALLERY OF RACE-HORSES. Containing Portraits of all the Winning 
Horses of the Derby, Oaks, and St. Leger Stakes during the last Thirteen Yearo, and a His- 
tory of the principal Operations of the Turf. By Wildrake (vJto. Tattersall, Esq.). Rnyal 
Svo, containing 9.i beautiful Engravings of Horses, after Pictures by Cooper, Herrixg, 
Hancock, Alke>, &c. Also full-length characteristic Portraits of celebrated living Sports- 
juen ("Crack* of the Day"), by Ssymou* (p"b. at 21. 2s.), scarlet cloth, gilt, U, U. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 



7 



PICTURESQUE TOUR OF THE RIVER THAMES, in its Western Course, including 

particular Destriptiiius of F-lchuiotid, Windsor, ami Hampton Court. By John Fisher 
Murray. lUustr^^d ti/ upwards ol' luo very liiy:hly-fiiiislied Wood Engravings by Orris 
Smith, Brakston, Lankells, Linton, and oilier eminent artists; to which are added 
several beautiful Copper and Steel Plate Engravings by Cooke and otliers. Oue Urge hand- 
some volume, royal 8vo (pub. at 11. as,], gil; cloth, 6(/. 1845 
The most beii-tiful volume of Topogtaphical Lignographs ever produced. 

PINELLI S ETCHINGS OF ITALIAN MANNERS AND COSTUME, Including his 
CamivaJ, Banditti, &c., 2? Plates, imperial 4to, half-bound morocco, las. Rome, 1840 

PRICE (SIR UVEDALE) ON THE PICTURESQUE in Scenery and Landscape Garden- 
in;?, with an Essay on the Origin of Taste, and much additional matter. By Sir Thomas 
Dick Lauder, Bart. 8vo, with 60 beautiful Wood Engravings by Moniago Stanley 
(pub. at U. 1*.), gilt cloth, 12«. 1842 

>>UGINS GLOSSARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL ORNAMENT AND COSTUME? 

setting forth the Origin, History, and Signification of the various Emblems, Devices, and Sym- 
bolical Colours, peculiar to Christian Designs of the Mit^dle Ages. Illustrated by nearly 80 
Plates, splendidly printed in gold and colours. Royal 4to, half morocco extra, top edges gilt, 
71. 7s. 

PUGIN'S ORNAMENTAL TIMBER GABLES, selected from Ancient Examples in 
England and Normandy. Royal 4to, ;<0 Plates, cloth, li. Is. 1S30 

PUGINS EXAMPLES OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, selected from Ancient 
Eililices in England; consisting of Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Parts at large, with Histo- 
rical and Descriptive letter-press, illustrated by 22i Engravings by Le Keux. 3 vols. 4to 
(pub. at 12/. ), cloth, 71. 17.i. Orf. 1839 

PUGIN'S GOTHIC ORNAMENTS. 90 fine Plates, drawn on Stone by J. D. Harding and 

others. Royal ito, half morocco, 31. is. 1844 

LOGIN'S NEW WORK ON FLORIATED ORNAMENT, with 30 plates, splendidly 
printed in Gold and Colours, royal 4to, elegantly bound in cloth, with rich gold ornaments, 

RADCLIFFES NOBLE SCIENCE OF FOX-HUNTING, for the use of Sportsmen, royal 
8vo., nearly 40 beautiful Wood Cuts of Hunting, Hounds, &c. (pub. at U. Ss.), cloth gilt, 
10s. 6(/. 1839 

RETZSCHS OUTLINES TO SCHILLER'S "FIGHT WITH THE DRAGON," 

Royal ito., containing 10 Plates, Engraved by Moses, stifl" covers, 7s. 6d. 

RETZSCH S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SCHILLER'S "FRIDOLIN," Royal 4*©^ contain- 
ing 8 Plates. Engra^ved by Moses, stilf covers, 4«. Gci. 

REYNOLDS' (SIR JOSHUA^ GRAPHIC WORKS. 300 beautiful Engravings (com- 
prising nearly 4 )0 subjects) after this delightful painter, engraved on Steel by S. W. Reynolds. 
3 vols, folio (pub. at 3()/.), half bound morocco, gilt edges, 121. 12s. 

REYNOLDS' (SIR JOSHUA) LITERARY WORKS. Comprising his Discourses, 

delivered at the Royal Academy, on the Theory and Practice of Painting; his Journey t« 
,anders and Holland, with Criticisms on Pictures; Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, with Notes 
vo which is prefixed, a Memoir of the Author, with Remarks illustrative of his Princiiiles anil 
*iactice, by Beechey. New Edition. 2 vols. fcap. 8vo, with Portrait (pub. at 18s.), gilt 
rMith, lOs. 1846 
"His admirable Discourses contain such a body of just criticism, clothed in such perspicuous, 
elegant, and nervous language, that it is no exaggerated panegyric to assert, that they will last 
as long as the English tongue, and contribute, not less than the prdductions of his pencil, to 
render his name immortal." — Northcote. 

ROBINSONS RU^AL ARCHITECTURE; being a Series of Designs for Ornamental 
Cottages, in 90 Piates, with Estimates. Fourth, greatly improved. Edition. Royal 4to (pub. 
at it. 4.S. ), half morocco, 21. os. 

ROBINSONS NEW SERIES OF ORNAMENTAL COTTAGES AND VILLA*. 

56 Plates by Harding and Allom. Royal 4to, half morocco, 21. 2s. 

ROBINSON'S ORNAMENTAL VILLAS* 96 Plates (pub. at 4Z. 4s.), lialf morocco, 2/. U. 

ROBINSON'S FARM BUILDINGS. 56 Plates (pub. at 2i. 2s.), half morocco, l/. lis. 6<f. 

ROBINSONS LODGES AND PARK ENTRANCES. 48 Plates (pub. at 21. 2s.), half 
morocco, U. 1 Is. 6c/. 

ROBINSON'S VILLAGE ARCHITECTURE. Fourth Edition, with additional Plate, il 

Plates (pUb at W. 10s.), half bound uniform, IZ. 4s. 

ROBINSON'S NEW VITRUVIUS BRITANNICUS; Or, Views, Plans and Elevations o. 
English Mansions, viz., Woburn Abbey, Hatfield House, and Hardwicke Hall; also Cassio- 
burv House, by John Britton, imperial folio, 50 fine engravings, by Le K.EUX (pub. a 
l()/."lfi'!. 1 half morocco, gilt edges, 3i. 13s. 6cZ. 1847 

ROYAL VICTORIA GALLERY, comprising 33 beautiful Engravings, after pictures a 
BtJCICINGHAM PALACE, particularly Rembrandt, the Ostades, Teniers, Gerarv 
Dow Both, Cuyr, Reynolds, Titian, and Rubens, engraved by Greatbach, S. vV 
REiN-oLBs, Presbury, Bubnet, &G.; with letter -press by Linkell, royal «o (pub. 
ii. is.), half morocco- U. lis. 



8 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



RUDING'S ANNALS OF THE COINAGE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND ITS 

D£P£ND£NCIKS. Three vols., 4to., Ii9 plaUs, (pub. at 6{. 6f.) cloth, il. it. igM 

SHAKSPEARE PORTFOLIO; a Seriss of 96 Graphic Illustrations, after Desijfns by 
the most eminent British Artists, including Smirke, Stothard, Stepbanoff, Cooper, Westall, 
Hilton, Leslie, Briggs, Corbould, Clint, &c., beautifully engraved by Heath, Greatbach! 
Robinson, Pye, Finden, Englehart, ArmstronK, Roll*, and otbera (pub. at 8/. 8«.). in a case, 
with leather back, imi)erial 8vo, 1/. U. > if • . m a Ka»e, 

SHAW AND BRIDGENS' DESIGNS FOR FURNITURE, with Candelabra and interior 
Decoration, 60 Plates, royal 4to, (pub. at 3/. St.), half-bound, uncut, II. Us. 6d. 183S 
The same, large paper, impl. 4to, the Plates coloured (pub. at 6/. 6f.), hf.-bd., uncut, Zl. 3*. 

SHAW'S LUTON CHAPEL, its Architecture and Ornamenti, Illustrated in a series of 24 
highly finished Line Engravings, imperial folio (pub. at 3/. 3#.), half morocco, uncut, 1/. 16t. 

1830 

SILVESTRE'S UNIVERSAL PALEOGRAPHY, or Facsimiles of the writings of eveiy 
age, taken from tlie most authentic Missals and other interesting Mnnuscripts existing In the 
Libraries of France, Italy, Germany, and England. By M. Silvestre, containing upwards of 
300 large and most beautifully executed fac-similes, on Copper and Stone, most richly illumi- 
nated in the finest style of art, 2 vols, atlas folio, half morocco extra, gilt edges, 3U. lOj. 

— — — The Hiatorical and Descriptive Lotter-press by ChampoUion, Figeac, and Cham- 

pollion, jun. With additions and corrections by Sir Frederick Madden. 2 vols, royal 8vo, 
cloth, 11. 16j. 1859 
■ the same, 2 vols, royal 8vo, hf. mor. gilt edges (uniform with the folio work), 21. 8«. 

SMITH S (C. J.) HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CURIOSITIES. ConsisUng of 
Fac-similes of interesting Autographs, Scenes of remarkable Historical Events and interesting 
Localities, Engravings of Old Houses, Illuminated and Missal Ornaments, Antiquities, &c. 
&c. , containing 100 Plates, some illuminated, with occasional Letter-press. In 1 voliune 4to, 
half morocco, uncut, reduced to 3/. 1840 

SMITHS ANCIENT COSTUME OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. From 
the 7lh to tlie Kith Century, with Historical Illustrations, folio, with 62 coloured plates illu- 
minated with gold and silver, and highly finished (pub. at lOl. lOt.) half bound, morocco, 
extra, gilt edges, 3/. 13j. Cd. 

SPORTSMAN'S REPOSITORY; comprising a Series of highly finished Line Engraving*, 

representing the Horse and the Dog, in all their varieties, by the celebrated engraver Johs 
Scott, from original paintings by Reinagle, Gilpin, Stubbs, Cooper, and Landseer, accom- 
panied by a comi)rehensive Description by the Author of the " British Field Sports," 4to, with 
37 large Copper Plates, and numerous Wood Cuts by Burnett and others (pub. at 21. lis. 6J.)» 
cloth gilt, U. Is. 

STORER'S CATHEDRAL ANTIQUITIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 4 vole. 

8vo., with 2:g engravings (pub. at 71. 10s.), half morocco, 21. 12. 6d. 

STOTHARDS MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES OF GREAT BRITAIN. U7 beautifuHy 

finished Etchings, all of which are more or less tinted, and some of them highly illuminated in 
gold and colours, with Historical Descriptions and Introduction, by Kempe. Folio ipub. at 
19/.), half morocco, SI. Ss. 
STRUTT'S SYLVA BRITANNICA ET S'^OTICA; or, Portraits of Forest Trees, distin- 
guished for their Antiquity, Magnitude, or Beauty, comprising 50 very large and highly-finished 
painters' Etchings, imperial folio (pub. at 9/. 9s.}, hzJf morocco extra, gilt edges, 4/. 10». 

1826 

STRUTTS DRESSES AND HABITS OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, from 
the Establishment of the Saxons in Britain to the present time ; with an historical and 
Critical Inquiry into every branch of Costume. New and greatly improved Edition, witli Cri- 
tinal and Explanatory Notes, by J. R. Blanche', Esq., F.S.A. 2 vols, royal 4to, 153 Plates, 
cloth, 4/. is. The Plates, coloured, 71. 7s. The Plates splendidly illuminated in gold, silver, 
and opaque colours, in the Missal style, 20^. 1842 

STRUTTS REGAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES OF ENGLAND. 

Containing tlie most authentic Representations of all the English Mouarchs from Edward the 
Confessor to Henry the Eighth; together with many of the Great Personages that were emi- 
nent under their several Reigns. New and greatly improved Edition, by J. R. Planche'. 
Esq.. F.S.A. Royal 4to, 72 Plates, cloth, 21. 2s. The Plates coloured, il. is. Splendidly 
illuminated, uniform with the Dresses, 12/. 12j. 1842 

SSTUBBS' AMATOMY OF THE HORSE. 24 fine large Copper-plate Engravings. Impe- 

riiil foiio (pub. at 4/. 4s.), boards, leather back, 1/. Us, Cd. 
The original edition of this fine old woik, which is indispensable to artists. It has long been 

consideied rare. 

TATTERSALL'S SPORTING ARCHITECTURE, comprising the Stud Farm, the SUIL 

tlie St,il)le, the Kenne!, Race Studs, &c. with 43 beautiful steel and wood Dlustratious, aeveral 
alter Hancock, cloth gilt (pub. at 1/. lis. Cd.), 11. Is. 1850 

TAYLORS HISTORY OF THE FINE ARTS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 2 vols, post 

Svo. VvooJcuts (pub. at 1/. Is.}, cloth, 7s. Gd. 1841 
" The best view of tlie state of modern sut."— United States' Gazette. 

TODS ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF RAJASTHAN: OR, THE CENTRAL 
AND WESTERN RAJPOOT STATES OF INDIA, COMMONLY CALLED RAJPOOT- 
ANA). By Lieut. Colonel J. Ton, imperial 4to, embellished with above 28 extremely beauti- 
ful line Engravings by Findejj, and capital large folding map («. H«, 6d.), cloth, Jsi. 1839 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 



9 



TURNER AND GIRTIN'S RIVER SCENERY; folio, 20 beautiful enffravings on steel, 
after the drawings of J. M. W. Turner, brilliant Impressions, in a porttdlio, witli morocco 
back (pul). at ;>i. :>s.], reduced to 11. II.?. ad. 

' the same, with thick glazed paper between the plates, half bound morocco, gilt 

edges (pub. at til. 6s.), reduced to 21. 2.t. 

WALKER S ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. Preceded by a critical View of the 
general Hypotheses rospectins Beauty, by Leonardo da Vinci, Mengs, Winckelmann, 
Hume, Hogarth, Burke, Knight, Amsos, and others. New Edition, royal 8vo, illus- 
trated by 22 beautiful Plates, after drawings from life, by H. Howard, by Gauci and Lane 
(pub. at 2^. 2».), gilt cloth, 1/. U. 1846 

WALPOLE'S (HORACE) ANECDOTES OF PAINTING IN ENGLAND, with some 
Account of the Principal Artists, and Catalogue of Engravers, who have been born or resided 
in Englanil, with Notes by Dam,away; New Edition, Revised and Enlarged, by Ralph 
WoiiN'U.M, Esq., complete in 3 vols. 8to, with niunerous beautiful portraits and plates, 21. 2s. 

WATTS'S PSALMS AND HYMNS, Iltustrated Edition, complete, with indexes of 
" Sutijects," " First Lines," and a Table of Scriptures, 8vo, printed in a very large and beauti- 
ful type,/embellislied with 24 beautiful Wood Cuts by Martin, Westall, and others (pub, at 
11. Is.), gilt cloth, 7s. 6d. 

WHISTON S JOSEPHUS, ILLUSTRATED EDITION, complete; containing both the 
Antiquities and the Wars of the Jews. 2 vols. 8vo, handsomely printed, embellished with 52 
beautiful Wood Engravings, bj various Artists (pub. at U. is.), cloth bds,, elegantly gilt, 14». 

184S 

WHITTOCK'S DECORATIVE PAINTER'S AND GLAZIER'S GUIDE, containing the 
most approved meilioils of hnitiiting every kind of fancy Wood and Marble, in Oil or Distemper 
Colour, Designs for Dci^orating Apartments, and the Art of Staining and Painting on Glass, 
&c., with Exanii)les fi- )m Ancient Windows, with the Supplement, 4to, illustrated with 104 
plates, of which 44 are coloured, (pub. at 21. lis.) cloth, 11. 10s. 

WHITTOCK'S MINIATURE PAINTER'S MANUAL. Foolscap 8vo., r coloured plates, 

and numerous woodcuts (pub. at bs.) cloth, 3s. 

WIGHTWICK S PALACE OF ARCHITECTURE, a Romance of Artand History, Impe- 
rial 8vo, with 211 Illustrations, Steel Plates, and Woodcuts (pub, at 21. 12*. 6d.), cloth, U. Is. 

1840 

WILDS ARCHITECTURAL GRANDEUR of Belgium, Germany, and France, 24 fine 
Plates by Le Keux, &c. Imperial 4to (pub. at 1/. 18j.), half morocco, 11. is, 1837 

WILD'S FOREIGN CATHEDRALS, 12 Plates, coloured and mounted like Drawings, in a 

handsome portfolio (pub. at 12/. 12^.), imperial folio, 51, as, 

WILLIAMS' VIEWS IN GREECE, G4 beautiful Line Engravings by Miller, HoRSBrEGH, 
and others. 2 vols, imperial 8vo (pub, at 61. 6s.), half bound mor. extra, gilt edges, 21. 12s. 6d. 

1829 

WINDSOR CASTLE AND ITS ENVIRONS, INCLUDING ETON, by Leitch 
Reitchie, new edition, edited by E. .Jesse, Es«., illustrated with upwards of 50 beautiful 
Engravings on Steel and Wood, ro'yai 8vo., gilt cloth, 15». 

WOODS ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES AND RUINS OF PALMYRA AND 

BALBKC. 2 vols, in 1, imperial folio, containing 110 fine Copper-plate Engravings, some 
»ery large and folding (pub. at 71. 7s.), half morocco, uncut, 31, 13i. Crf. 182" 



jBatural J^i'storp, Agriculture, $rc. 



ANDREWS' FIGURES OF HEATHS, with Scientific Descriptions, 6 vols, royal Svo. 
with 300 beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at 15/.), cloth, gilt, 71, 10s. 1845 

BARTON AND CASTLES BRITISH FLORA MEDICA; OR, HISTORY OF THB 
MEIMCI NAL PLANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 2 vols, 8vo, illustrated by upwards of 200 
Colo'jred Figures of Plants (pub, at 3/. 3s.), cloth, 1/. ICj. 1845 

BAUER AND HOOKERS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE GENERA OF FERNS, 

in which the characters of eacL Genus are displayed in the most elaborate manner, in a series 
of magnified Dissections and Figures, highly finished in Colours. Imp. 8vo, Plates, 6C. 1838-42 

BEECHEY,— BOTANY OF CAPTAIN BEECHEYS VOYAGE, comprising an 
Account of the Plants collected by ^.Messrs. Lay and Collie, and other Officers of the 
Expedition, during the Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits. By Sia William 
Jackson Hooker, and G. A. W. Arnott, Esq., illustrated by 100 Plates, beautifully en- 
graved, complete in 10 parts, 4to (pub. at 71. 10s.), 51. 1831-41 

BEECHEY.— ZOOLOGY OF CAPTAIN BEECHEYS VOYAGE, compiled from the 
Collections and Notes of Captain Beechey and the Scientific Gentlemen who accompanied 
the Expedition. The Mammalia, by Dr. Richardson; Ornithology, by N. A. Vigors, Esq., 
Fishes, by G. T. Lay, Esq., and E. T. Bennett, Esq.; Crustacea, by Richard Owen; 
Esq.; Reptiles, by Johv Edward Gray, Esq.; Shells, by W. Sowerby, Esq.; and Geology, 
by the Rev. Dr. Buckland. 4to, illustrated by 47 Plates, containing many hundred Figures, 
beautifully coJcurea by Sowerby (pub. atil. it,], cloth, 3/, 13i, 6rf. 183tf 



10 



CATALOGUE OF »EW BOOKS 



BOLTON'S NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SONG BIRDS. Illustrated with 
Figures, the size of Life, of the Birds, both Male and Female, in their most Natural Attitudes; 
their Nests and Egp-s, Food, Favourite Plants, Shrubs, Trees, &c. &c. New Edition, revised 
X and very considerably augmented, 2 vols, in 1, medium 4to, containing 80 beautifully coloured 
' plates (pub. at HI. 8s.), half bound morocco, gilt backs, gilt edges, 3/. 3*. 1815 

BRITISH FLORIST, OR LADY'S JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE. 6vo!s.8vo, 81 
coloured plates of flowers and groups (pub. at 41. 10*.), cloth, 1/. 14*. 1846 

BROWNS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAND AND FRESH WATER SHELLS 

OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; with Figures, Descriptions, and Localities of all 
the Species. Royal 8vo, containing on 27 large Plates, 330 Figures of all tlie known British 
Species, In their full size, accurately drawn from Nature (pub. at 15*.), cloth, 10«. 6rf. 1845 

CURTIS'S FLORA LONDINENSIS; Revised and Improved by Gf.orre Graves, ex- 
tended and continued by Sir W. J.^ckson Hooker; comprising the History of Plants indi- 
genous to Great Britain, with Indexes; the Drawings made by Sydenham, Edwards, and 
LiNDLEY. 5 vols, royal folio (or 109 parts), containing 647 Plates, exliibiting the full naturdl 
size of each Plant, with magnified Dissections of the Parts of Fructification, &c., all beauti- 
fully coloured (pub. at 87^ 4s. in parts), half bound morocco, top edges gilt, 30l. 1835 

DENNY— MONOQRAPHIA ANOPLURORUWI BRITANNI/E, OR BRITISH 

SPECIES OF PARASITE INSECTS (published under the patronage of the British Associa- 
tion), 8vo, numerous beautifuilj cuioured plates of Lice, containing several hundred magnified 
figures, cloth, li. lU. 6d. 1842 

DON'S GENERAL SYSTEM OF GARDENING AND BOTANY. 4 volumes, royal 4to, 
numerous woodcuts (pub, at lil. 8s.), cloth, U. Us. 6d. 1831-1838 

DON'S HORTUS CANTABRIGIENSIS: thirteenth Edition, 8vo (pub. at U. 4*.), cloth, 12*. 

1845 

DONOVANS NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INSECTS OF INDIA. Enlarged, by 
J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S., 4to, with .58 plates, containing upwards of 120 exquisitely 
coloured figures (pub. at 6C. 6s.), cloth, gilt, reduced to 21. 2s. 1843 



DONOVAN S NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INSECTS OF CHINA. Enlarged, by 
J. O. Westwood. Esq., F.L.S., 4to, with 50 plates, containing upwards of 120 exquisitely 
coloured figures (pub. at 61. 6s.), cloth, gilt, 21. 5s. 

" Donovan's works on the Insects of India and China are splendidly illustrated and ex- 
tremely useful." — Naturulist. 

"The entomological plates of our countryman Donovan, are highly coloured, elegant, and 
useful, especially those contained in his (juiirto volumes (Insects of India and China), where a 
great number of species are delineated for the first time."— Swatnson. 

DONOVAN S WORKS ON BRITISH NATURAL HISTORY. Vi7,.-Insects, 16 toIs, 
— Jilrds, 10 vols.— Stiells, 5 vols.— Fishes, 5 vols.— Guadrupeds, 3 vols.— together 39 vols. 8vo. 
containing 1198 beautifully coloured plates (pub. at 66^. 9s.), boards, 2'M. 17s. The sam« set of 
39 vols, bound in 21 (pub. at 73^. 10s. ), half green morocco extra, gilt edges, gilt bacll«, 30<. 
Any of the classes may be had separately. 

DOYLE'S CYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HUSBANDRY, and Rural Affairs in 
General, New Edition, Enlarged, thick 8vo., with 70 wood engravings (pub. at 13s.), cloth, 
8s. Gd. 1843 

DRURY'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF FOREIGN ENTOMOLOGY; wherein are exhibited 
upwards of 600 exotic Insects, of the East and West Indies, China, New Holland, North and 
South America, Germany, &c. By J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S.. Secretary of the Entomo- 
logical Society, &c. 3 vols, ito, 150 Plates, most beautifully colotired, containing above 600 
figures of Insects (originally pub, at 15 1. 15s.), half bound morocco, 61. 10s. 6d. 1837 

EVELYN'S SYLVA AND TERRA. A Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of 
Timber, a Philosophical Discourse of the Earth; with Life of the Author, and Notes by Dr. A. 
Hunter, 2 vols, royal 4to. Fifth improved Edition, with 46 Plates (p ib. at 51. 5s.), cloth, 21. 

1826 

FITZROY AND DARWIN.— ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE IN THE BEAGLE. 

166 plates, mostly coloured, 3 vols, royal 4to. (pub. at 91.), cloth, 51. 5s. 1838-43 

GREVILLE'S CRYPTOGAMIC FLORA, comprising the Principal Species found in Great 
Britain, inclusive of all the New Species recently discovered in Scotland. 6 vols, royal 8vo, 
360 beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at 16s.), half morocco, 8^. 8s. 1823-,8 
This, though a complete Work in itself, forms an almost indispensable Supplement to the 
thirty-six volumes of Sowerby's English Botany, which does not comprehend Cryjitogamous 
Plants. It is one of the most scientific and best executed works ou Indigenous Botany ever 
produced in this country. 

HARDWICKE AND GRAY'S INDIAN ZOOLOGY. Twenty parts, forming two vols., 
royal folio, 202 coloured plates (pub. at 21^), sewed, 12i. 12s., or half moroccu, gilt edges, 
Ul. Us. 

HARRIS'S AURELIAN: OR ENGLISH MOTHS AND BUTTERFLiES, Tlieir 

Natural History, together with the I'lants on which they fe«d; N^w and greatly improved 
Edition, by J. "O, Westwood, Esq., F.L.S., &c., in 1 vol. sm. folio, with 44 plates, containing 
fcbove 400 figures of Moths, Butterflies, Caterpillars, &c., and the Plants on which they feed, 
exquisitely coloureu after t>>e original d' awings, half-bound morocco, il. is. 1840 
Tliis extren)«>Jy beautiful work is the only one which contains our English Moths and Butter- 
flies of the full natural size, in all their changes of Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Sic, with the plant* 
•n which they fee*** 



rUIJLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOIIN. 



11 



HOOKLR AND GREVILLE, ICONES FlLiCUiVI ; OR. FIGURES OF FERNS 

Witl) I)E8Cli !P'riONS, many of which have been altogether uniiuticed by BoiauistE, cr have 
not lioen corrf^ctlv fisfiired. 2 vols, folio, with 240 beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at 2tl. is.), 
half morocco, gU\ edges, 121. 12s. 1829-31 
The ifrandest and most valuable of the many scientific Works produced by Sir William Hooker, 

HOOKER'S EXOTIC FLORA, containing Figures and Descriptions of Rare, or otherwise 
interesting Exotic Plants, especially of such as are deserving- of being cultivated in our Gar- 
dens. 3 vols, impeiial 8vo, containing 232 large and beautifully coloured Plates (pub. at 151.), 
clotli, bi. 6.S. 1823-1827' 

Tliis is the most superb and attractive of all Dr. Hooker's valuable works. 

"The 'Exotic Flora,' by Dr. }Iooker, is like that of all the Botanical publications of the in- 
defatigable author, excellent; and it assumes an appearance of finish and perfection to 
which neither the Botanical Magazine nor Register can externally lay claim."— Xoudow. 

f-{OOKER'S JOURNAL OF BOTANY; containing Figures and Descriptions of such Plants 
as recommend themselves by their novelty, rarity, or history, or by the uses to which they are 
ai)|)li(il in tlie Arts, in Medicine, and in Domestic Economy; together with occasional 
Botanical Notices and Information, and occasional Portraits and Memoirs of eminent 
Botanists. 4 vols. 8vo, numerous plates, some coloured ( pub. at 3i. ), cloth, U. 1834-42 

i-iOOKERS BOTANICAL MISCELLANY; containing Figures and Descriptions of Plants 
which recommend themselves by their novelty, rarity, or history, or by the uses to which they 
are a])plied in the Arts, in Medicine, and in Domestic Economy, together with occasional 
Botanical Notices and Information, including many valuable Communications from distin- 
guished Scientific Travellers. Complete in 3 thick vols, royal 8vo, with 153 piates, many finely 
coloured (pub. at 5/. 5s.), gilt cloth, 21. 12s. Gd. 1830-3$ 

HOOKER'S FLORA BOREALI-AMERICANA ; OR, THE BOTANY OF BRITISH 
NORTH AMERICA. Illustrated by 240 plates, complete in Twelve Parts, royal 4to, (pub, 
at 12^. 12s.), 8^ The Twelve Parts complete, done up in 2 vols, royal 4to, extra cloth, Si. 

1829-49 

fJUISH ON BEES; THEIR NATURAL HISTORY AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 

New and greatly improved Edition, containing also the latest Discoveries and Improvements 
in every department of the Apiarj', with a description of the most approved Hives now in use, 
thick 12mo, Portrait and numerous Woodcuts (pub. at lUs. 6d.), cloth, gilt, 6s. 6d. 1S44 

JOHNSON'S GARDENER, complete in 12 vols, with numerous woodcuts, containing the 
Potato, one vol.— Cucumber, one vol.— Grape Vine, two vols.— Auricula and Asparagus, one 
vol. — Pine Apple, two vols. — Strawberry, one vol. — Dahlia, one vol.— Peach, one vol. — Apple, 
two vols.— together 12 vols. 12mo, woodcuts (pub. at U. 10s.), cloth, 12». ISiJ 

' — either of the volumes may be had separately (pub, at 2s. Sa'.), at Is. 



JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY OF MODERN GARDENING, numerous Woodcuts, very- 
thick 12ino, cloth lettered (pub. at 10s. 6t/.), 4s. A comprehensive and elegant volume. 1846 

LATHAM'S GENERAL HISTORY OF BIRDS Being the Natural History and Descrip- 
tion of all the Birds (above four thousand) hitherto known or described by Naturalists, with 
the Synonymes of preceding Writers; the second enlarged and improved Edition, compre- 
hending all the discoveries in Ornithology subsequent to the former publication, and a General 
Index, 11 vols, in 10, 4to, with upwards of 200 coloured Plates, lettered (pub. at 261. 8s.), cloth, 
7<. 17s. ad. Winchester, 1821-28. The same with the plates exquisitely coloured like drawings,^ 
11 vols, in 10, elegantly half bound, green morocco, gilt edges, \2l. 12s. 

^EWIN'S NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BIRDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 

Third Edition, with an Index of the Scientific Names and Synonymes by Mr, Gould and Mr. 
EYTOJi, folio, 27 plates, coloured (pub. at il. is.), hf. bd. morocco, 21. 2s, 1838 

LINDLEY'S BRITISH FRUITS; OR, FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MOST 
IMPORTANT VARIETIES OF FRUIT CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 3 vols, 
royal 8vo, containing 152 most beautifully coloured plates, chietiy by Mrs. Withers, Artist 
to the Horticultural Society (pul). at 10/. 10s.), hall bound, morocco extra, gilt edges, 51. 5s. 

1841 

•'This is an exquisitely beautiful work. Every plate is like a 'Tiighly finished drawing, 
similar to those in the Horticultural Transactions," 

LINDLEY'S DIGITALIUM MONOGRAPHIA, Folio, 28 plates of the Foxglove (pub. at 
it. is.), cloth. It. lis, 6d. 

• the same, the plates beautifully coloured (pub, at 6/. Cs.), cloth, 21. 12*. 6d. 

LOUDON'S (MRS.) ENTERTAINING NATURALIST, being Popular DescriptiffiM, 
Tales, and Anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals, comprehending all the Quadrupeds, 
Birds, Fishes, Keiitiles, Insects, &c. of which a knowledge is indispensable in polite educa- 
tion. With Indexes of Scientific aiLl Popular Names, an Explanation of Terms, and an Ap- 
pendix of Fal)ulous Animals, illustrated by upwards of 500 lieautifui woodcuts by Bewicx, 
Harvey, Whoiper, and others. New Edition, revised, enlarged, and corrected to the 
presentstate of Zoological Knowledge. In one thick vol. post 8vo. gilt cloth, 7s. Gd. 1850 

LOUDON'S (J. C.) ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUNl BRITANNICUM, or the 

Trees and Shrubs of Britain, Native and Foreign, delineated and described; with their propa- 
gation, culture, management, and uses. Second improved Eiiition, 8 vols. 8vo, with above 
400 plates of trees, and upwards of 2500 woodcuUi of tiees and sJuubs (pul); at V<U.), 51. bt. 1844 



12 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



MANTELL'S (DR.) NEW GEOLOGICAL WORK. THE MEDALS OF CREATION 

or First Lessons in Geolog'y, and in the Study of Organic Remains; including Geological Ex" 
cursions to the Isle of Sheppey, Brighton, Lewes, Tilgate Forest, Charnwood Forest, Farring- 
don, Swindon, Calne, Bath, Bristol, Clifton, Matlock, Crich Hill, &c. By Gideon Alger- 
XON Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. Two thick vols, foolscap 8vo, with coloured 
Plates, and several hundred beautiful Woodcuts of Fossil Remains, cloth gilt, U. U. 1814 

WiANTELL'S WONDERS OF GEOLOGY, or a Familiar Exposition of Geological Phe- 
nomena. Sixth greatly enlarged and improved Edition. 2 vol». post 8vo, coloured Plates, and 
upwards of 200 Woodcuts, gilt cloth, 18s. 1848 

MANTELLS GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION ROUND THE ISLE OF WIGHT, 

and along the adjacent Coast of Dorsetshirs. In 1 vol. post 8to, with numerous beautifully 
executed Woodcuts, and a Geological Map, cloth gilt, i2s. 1841 

MUDIES NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS; OR, THE FEATIIEREIl 
TRIBES OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 2 vols. 8vo. New Edition, the Plates beauU- 
fully coloured (pub. at \l. 8s.), cloth gilt, 16s. 1S35 
"This is, without any exception, the most truly charming work on Ornithology which has 
, hitherto api)eared, from the days of Willoughby downwards. Other authors describe, 
■ Mudie paints; other authors give the husk, Mudie the kernel. We most heartily concur 
■witli the oi)inion expressed of this work by Leigh Hunt (a kindred spirit) in the first few 
numbers of his rieht pleasant London Journal. The descriptions of Bewick, Pennant, 
Lewin, Montagu, and even Wilson, will not for an instant stand comparison with the 
spirit-stirring emanations of Mudie's 'living pen,' as it has been called. We are not ac- 
quainted with any author who so felicitously unites beauty of style with strength and nerve 
of expression ; he does not specify, but paints." — Wood's Ornithological Guidt. 

RICHARDSON S GEOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS, comprising a familiar Explanation of 
Geology and its associate Sciences, Mineralogy, Physical Geology, Fossil Conchology, Fossil 
Botany, and Pala;ontology, including Directions for forming Collections, &c. By G. F. 
Richardson, F.G.S. (formerly with Dr. Mantell, now of the British Museum). Second 
Edition, considerably enlarged and improved. One thick vol. post 8vo, illustrated by upwards 
of 260 Woodcuts (pub. at 10s. 6d.), cloth. Is. 6d. 1846 

SELBYS COMPLETE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY. A most magnificent work of the 

Figures of Britisli Birds, containing exact and faithful representations in their full natural size, 
of all the known species found in Great Britain, 383 Figures in 228 beautifully coloured Plates. 
2 vols, elephant folio, elegantly half bound morocco (pub. at lOSi.), gilt back and gilt edges, 
31^ 10s. 1834 

"The grandest work on Ornithology published in this country, the same for British Birds 
that Audubon's is for the birds of America. Every figure, excepting in a very few instances of 
extremely large birds, is of the fiiU natural size, beautifully and accurately drawn, with all the 
spirit of life."— OraiYAoZoyisi's Text Book. 

" What a treasure, during a rainy forenoon in the country, is such a gloriously illuminated 
work as this of Mr. Selby 1 It is, without doubt, the most splendid of the kind ever publishe4 
in Britain, and will stand a comparison, without any eclipse of its lustre, with the most magni- 
ficent ornithological illustrations of the French school. Mr. Selby has long and deservedly 
ranked high as a scientific naturalist." — Blackwood's Magazine. 

SELBYS ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY. 2 vols. 8vo. Second 
Edition (pub. at U. Is.), boards, 12*. 1833 

SISTHORP'S FLORA GR/ECA. The most costly and magnificent Botanical work ever pub- 
lished. 10 vols, folio, with 1000 beautifully coloured Plates, half bound morocco, publishing 
by subscription, and the number strictly limited to those subscribed for (pub. at 252^.1, G3/. 

Separate Prospectuses of this work are now ready for delivery. Only forty copies of th» 
original stock exist. No greater number of subscribers' names can therefore be received. 

SIBTHORP'S FLOR/E GR/EC/E PRODROMUS. Sive Plantarun-, omnium Enumeratio, 
quas in Provinciis aut Insulis Graciae invenit Joh. Sibthorp: Characteres et Synonynia 
omnium cum Annotationibus Jac. Edy; Smiih. Four parts, in 2 thick vols, 8vo (pub. aA 
2i. 2s.), 14s. iond«7ji, 1816 

SOWERBYS MANUAL OF CONCHOLOGY. Containing a complete Introduction to the 
Science, illustrated by upwards of 650 Figures of Shells, etched on co.pper-plates, in which the 
most characteristic examples are given of all the Genera established up to the present time, 
arranged in Lamarckian Order, accompanied by copious Explanations; Observations respect- 
ing tlie Geographical or Geological distribution of each; Tabular Views of the Systems of 
Lamarck and De Blainville; a Glossary of Technical Terms, &c. New Edition, considerably 
enlarged and improved, with numerous Woodcuts in the text, now first added, 8vo, cloth, 18s. 
The plates coloured, cloth, 11. 16s. 1846 

SOWERBYS CpNCHOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS; OR, colottred FIGURES 
OF ALL THE HITITERTO UNFIGURED SHELLS, complete in ?oe Shells, 8vo, compria- 
ing several thousand Figures, in parts, all beautifully coloured (pub. at 15/.), 71. 10*. 1845 

SPRYS BRITISH COLEOPTERA DELINEATED; containing Figures and Description* 
of all the Genera of British Beetles, edited by Shuckard, 8vo, with 94 plates, comprising 68S 
figures of Beetles, beautifully and most accurately drawn f pub. at jl. 2s,), cloth, U. 1*. 1840 
" The most perfect work vet published in this department of British Entomology." 

STEPHENS' BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY, 12 vols. 8vo, loo coloured Plates (pub. at2«.>, 
half bound, 82. 8*. 1828-46 
—Or separately, Lkpidoptera, 4 vols. 41. 4s. Coleoptera, 5 vols. U, ii. JDJBKHAFTEKA, 

O&THOS., KEVa.9t . &e t t VV) ii l« IiYll¥liOFT£RA, 3 VOll. 21. 2t, 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 



13 



SWAINSON'S EXOTIC CONCHOLOGY; OR, FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OP 
RARE, BEAUTIFUL, OR UNDESCRlBED SHELLS. Royal 4to, coiiiihuiife- 94 large aud 
beautifully coloured figures of Shells, half bound mor. gilt edges (pub. at 3/. 5s), 2L i2s. 6d, 

SWAINSON'S ZOOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS; OR, ORIGINAL FIGURES AND- 
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW, RARE, OR INTERESTING ANIMALS, selected chiefly 
from the Classes of Ornithologj', Entomology, and Conchology. 6 vols, royal 8vo, cuntaiiilng 
318 finely coloured plates (pub. at 16^ lS«>)i half bound morocco, gilt edges, 9^. 9). 

SWEET'S FLORA AUSTRALASICA ; OR. A SELECTION OF HANDSOME OR 
CURIOUS PLANTS, Natives of New Holland and the South Sea Islands. 15 Nos. for.iiinj; 
1 vol, royal 8vo, complete, with 56 beautifully coloured plates (pub. at 3/. 15j.), cloth, U. 16s. 

1827-28- 

SWEET'S CISTINE/E; OB, NATURAL ORDER OF CISTUS, OR ROCK ROSE. 30 
Nos. forming 1 vol. royal 8?o, complete, viith 112 beautifully coloured plates (pub. at il. 5s.), 
cloth, 21. 12s. 6d. 1828 
" One of the most interesting, and hitherto the scarcest of Mr. Sweet's beautiful publications." 



i^iscellancous (!Bnglts5 Hiteraturc, 

INCLUDING 

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, POETRY AND THE 
DRAMA, MORALS, AND MISCELLANIES. 



BACON'S WORKS, both English and Latin. With an Introductory Essaj', and copious 
Indexes. Complete in 2 large vols, imperial 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 2U 2s.), cloth, 11. 10s. 1838 

BACON'S ESSAYS AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, with Memoir and Notes 
by Dr. Taylor, square 12mo, with 34 Woodcuts (pub. at 4a,), ornamental wrapper, 2i. Gd. 

1840 

BANCROFT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, from the Discovery of the 
American Continent, Twelfth Edition, 3 vols, Svo (published at 21. 10*.), cloth, li. lU. W. 

1847 

BATTLES OF THE BRITISH NAVY, from a.d. looo to 1840. By Joseph Axxek, of 
Greenwich Hospital. 2 thick elegantly printed vols, foolscap 8vo, illustrated by 24 Portraits 
of British Admirals, beautifully engraved on Steel, and numerous Woodcuts of Battles (pub. 
at 11. Is.), cloth gilt, 14j. 1842 

"These volumes are invaluable; they contain the very pith and marrow of our best Naval 
Histories and Chronicles." — Sun. 

"The best and most complete repository of the triumphs of the British Navy which has yet 
issued from the press."— United Senice Gasette. 

BORDERER'S, THE TABLE BOOK, or Gatherings of the Local History and Romance of 
the English and Scottish Kordtrs, by M. A. Richardsok (of Newcastle), 8 vols, bound in 4, 
royal Svo, Illustrated with nearly looo interesting Woodcuts, extra cloth (pub. at 3/. lOs-.), 
1^ 11*. Newcastle, 1846 

*»* One of the cheapest and most attractive sets of books imaginable. 

BOSWELLS LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON; BY THE RIGHT HON. J. C. CROKER, 

Incorporating liis Tour to the Hel.Tides, and accompanied by the Commentaries of all pre- 
ceding Editors: with numerous additional Notes and lUastrattve Anecdotes; to which are 
added Two Supplementary Vohimes of Anecdotes by Hawkins, Piozzi, Murphy, Tyers,. 
Reynolds, Steevens, and otiiers. lo vols. 12mo, illustrated by upwards of 50 Views, Por- 
traits, and Sheets of Autographs, finely engraved on Steel, from Drawings by Stanfield, Hard- 
ing, &c., cloth, reduced to \t. lus. 1S48 
This new, improved, and greatly enlarged edition, beautifully printed in the popular form or 
Sir Walter Scott, and Byron's Works, is just such an edition as Dr. Johnson himself loved and 
recommended. In one of the Ana recorded in the supplementary volumes of the present edi- 
tion, he says: " Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the 
most useful after all. Such books form the mass of general and easy reading." 

BOURRIENNES MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON, one stout, closely, but elegantly printed 
vol., foolscap l2mo, with fine equestrian Portrait of Napoleon and Frontispiece (pub. at 5*.), 
cloth, 3s. dd. 1814 

BRITISH ESSAYISTS, viz.. Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, Rambler, Adventurer, Idler, and 
Connoiseur, 3 thick vols. 8vo, portraits (pub. at 2/. 5*.), cloth, 11, 1m, Either volume may be 
had separate. 

BRITISH POETS, CABINET EDITION, containii>g the complete works of the princit)*} 
English poets, fron. Milton to Kirke Wliite. 4 vols, post Svo (size of Standard Library) 
printed in a very sDiall but beautiful t> pe, 22 Medallion PortraiU (oub. at 2<. 2#.), clotb, I6r. 



u 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



BROUGHAM'S (I.ORD) POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, and Essay on the British Constil*. 

lion, 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at II. lU. 6d,), cloth, II. U. 1844-e 
« British Constitution (a portion of the preceding work), 8to. cloth, 3*. 

BHOUGHAMS (LORD) HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF STATESMEN, and other 

Public Characters of the time of Georjfe III. Vol. III. royal 8vo, with lu fine portraits 
(pub. at II. Is.), cloth, lOi. 6d. tS49 

BROUGHAMS (LORD) LIVES OF MEN OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE, Who 

flourished in the time of George III, royal 8vo, \(ith 10 fine portraits (pub. at 1^. U.), cloth, 12i. 

1S45 

■ the same, also with the portraits, demy 8vo (pub. at U. cloth, lOi. 6d, 1816 

BROWNE'S (SIR THOMAS) WORKS, COMPLETE, including: his Vulgar Errors, 
Kelifcio Medici, Urn Burial, Christian Morals, Correspondence, J ournals, and Tracts, many of 
tliem hitherto unpublished. The whole collected and edited by Simon Wilkin, F.L.S. 4 
vols. 8vo, fine Portrait (pub. at 21. &s. ), clotli, 1/. Gd. fickerivy, 1836 

'' , "Sir Thomas Browne, the contemporary of Jeremy Taylor, Hooke, Bacon, Selden, and 
Kobcrt Burton, is undoubtedly one of the most eloquent and poetical of that irreat literary era. 
His tliouirlits are often truly sublime, and always conveyed in the most impressive language.'! 
•—Chambert. 

BUCKINGHAM'S AMERICA; HISTORICAL, STATISTICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE, 

viz.: Northern States, 3 vole.; Eastern and Western States, 3 vols.; Southern or Slave States, 
2 vols.; Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the other British Provinces in North 
America, 1 vol. Together 9 stout vols. 8vo, numerous fine Engravings (pul). at G/. lus. fia!.), 
cloth, 21. 12.V. firf. 1841-43 

"Mr. Buckingham goes deliberately through the States, treating of all, historically and sta- 
tistically — of their rise and progress, their manufactures, trade, population, tojjotcraphy, fer- 
tility, resources, morals, manners, education, and so forth. His volumes wUi be Joumi a store- 
house of knowledge." Atken/mm. 

"A very entire and comprehensive view of the United States, diligently collected by a man 
of great acuteness and observation." — Literary Gazette. 

BURKE'S (EDMUND) WORKS With a Biographical and Critical Introduction by Rogers. 
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BURKES ENCYCLOP/€DIA OF HERALDRY; OR, GENERAL ARMOURY 

OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND. Compris-ing a Registry of all Armorial 
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l&te Grants by the College of Arms. Willi an Introduction to Heraldry, and a IMt'ti(mary of 
Terms. Third Edition, with a Supplement. One very large vol. imperial 8vo, beautifully 
printed in small type, in double columns, by Whittingham, embellished with an elaborate 
Frontispiece, richly illuminated in gold and colours; also Woodcuts (pub. at 2/. 2».), doth 
gilt, U. 5». 1844 
The most elaborate and useful Work of the kind ever published. It contains upwards of 
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have never appeared in any previous Work. This volume, in fact, in a small compass, but 
without abridgment, contains more than four ordinary quartos. 

BURNS' WORKS, WITH LIFE BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, AND NOTES BY 

SIR WALTER SCOTT, CAMPBELL, WORDSWORTH, LOCKHART, &c. Royal 8vo, 
fine Portrait and Plates (pub, at 18s.), cloth, uniform with Byron, los. Cd. 1842 
This is positively the only complete edition of Burns, in a single volume, Svo. It contains 
not only every scrap which Burns ever wrote, wiiether iirose or verse, but also a considerable 
number of Scotch national airs, collected and illustrated by him {not given elsewhere) and full 
and interesting accounts of the occasions and circumstances of his various writings. The 
yery complete and interesting Life by Allan Cunningham alone occupies 104 pages, and the 
Indices and Glossary are very copious. The whole forms a thick elegantly printed volume, 
extending in all to 848 jiages. The other editions, including one published in similar shape, 
■with an abridgment of the Life by Allan Cunningham, comprised in only 47 pages, and the 
■whole volume in only 504 pages, do not contain above two-thirds of the above. 

CAMPBELL'S LIFE AND TIMES OF PETRARCH. With Notices of Boccaccio and hii 
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1/. lis. dd.), cloth, 12i. 184J 

GARY'S EARLY FRENCH POETS, a Series of Notices and Translations, with an Intro- 
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foolscap, 8vo, cloth, bs. 1816 

GARY'S LIVES OF ENGLISH POETS, suppJementery to Dr. Johksok's "Lives." 
Edited by his Son, foolscap 8vo, cloth, 7s. 1846 

CHATHAM PAPERS, being the Correspondence of William Pitt, Eari of Chatham 
Edited by the Executors of his Son, John Earl of Chatham, and published from the Origina- 
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Murray, 1838-40 

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work, which will directly pass into every library."— /.i^eruri; Ga-ette. 

"There is hardly any man in modern times who fills so large a space in our histoi'J', and of 
whom we know so liltie, as Lord Chatham ; he was the greatest Statesman and Orator that 
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E4mburgh Jiev.iew, 



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" Chattel-ton's was a genius 1 "e that of Homer and Shakspeare, which appears not above 
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CLARKE'S (Df?. E. D.) TRAVELS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF EUROPE, 

ASIA, AND AFRICA, 11 vols. 8vo, maps and plates (pub. at 10^.)i cloth, U. i*. 1827-34 

CLASSIC TALES, Cahinet Eklition, comprising the Vicar of Wakefield, Elizabeth, Paul and 
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and Constantia, Castle of Otranto, and Rasselas, complete In 1 vol. 12mo.; 7 medallion por- 
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COLMAN'S (GEORGE) POETICAL WORKS, containing his Broad Grins. Vagaries, and 
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COOPERS (J. F.) HISTORY OF THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES OF 

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COPLEY'S (FORMERLY MRS. HEWLETT) HISTORY OF SLAVERY AND ITS 

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This is the only complete edition of Cowper's Works, prose and poetical, wliich has ever 
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CRAWFURD'S (J.) EMBASSY TO SIAM AND COCHIN-CHINA. 2 vols. 8vo» 

Maps, and 25 Plates (pub. at U. Us. Gd.), cloth, 12j. 1830 

CRAWFURD'S EMBASSY TO AVA, with an Appendix on Fossil Remains by Professor 
BucKLAND. 2 vols. 8vo, with 13 Maps, Plates, and Vignettes (pub. at 1/. Us. tSd.), cloth, 
I2s. 1834 

CRUIKSHANK S THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT. A Series of Tales, in Three 
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Illustrations (publishing in the Illustrated Library at 5j.) 

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novelist, in one person, is unexampled. A tithe of the talent that goes to making the storiea 
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DAVIS'S SKETCHES OF CHINA, During an Inland Journey of Four Months; with an 
Account of the War. 'I'wo vols., post 8vo, with a new map of China (pub. at ICs.), cloth, 9s. . 

1811 

OIBDIN'S BIBLIOMANIA: OR BOOK-MADNESS. A Bibliographical Romance. New 

Edition, with considerable Additions, including a Key to the assumed Cliaracters in the 
Drama, and a Supplement. 2 vols, royal 8vo, handsomely printed, embellished by numerous 
Woodcuts, many of which are now first added (pub. at 3^ 3s.), cloth, U. Us. 6(/. Large Paper, 
imperial 8vo, of which only very few copies were printed (pub. at 5/. 5*.), cloth, 3/. 13s. 6ti. 

1843 

This celebrated Work, which unites the entertainment of a romance with the most valuable 
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DIBDIN'S (CHARLES) SONGS, Admiralty edition, complete, with a Memoir by T. 
DiBnix, illustrated with 12 Characteristic Sketches, engraved on Steel by GEORGii Cruik- 
SHANK, 12mo, cloth lettered. 5s. 1848 

DOMESTIC COOKERY, by a Lady (Mrs. Rundeli,) New Edition, with numerous additional 
Receipts, by Mrs. Birch, 12mo., with y plates (pub. at Cs.) cloth, 3*. 1846 

BRAKE'S SHAKSPEARE AND HIS TIMES, including the Biography of the Poet, 
Criticisms on his Genius and Writings, a t.ew Chronology of his Plays, and a History of the 
Manners, Customs, and Amusements, Superstitions, Poetry, and Literature of the Elizal)ethan 
Era. 2 vols. 4to (above 1400 pages), with fine Portrait and a Plate of Autdgraphs (pub. at 
5L OS.), cloth, \l. Is. 1817 
"A masterly production, the publication of which will form an epoch in the Shaksjierian his- 
tory of this country. It comprises also a complete and critical analysis of all the Plays and 
Poems of Shakspeare; and a comprenensive and powerful sketch of the contemporary literi. 
ture." — Genlkman's Jlayasine. 



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ENGLISH CAUSES CELEBRES, OR, REMARKABLE TRIALS. Square IZmo, (pnK. 
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f ENN'S PASTON LETTERS, Original Letters of the Paston Family, written durinfr th« 
Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III, by various Persons of Rank and Conse- 
quence, chiefly on Historical Subjects. New Edition, with Notes and Corrections, complete, 
2 vols, hound in 1, square 12mo (pub. at Us.), clotli gilt, 5s. Guaintly bound in maroon 
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book, and sells for upwards of ten guineas. The present is not an abridgment, as might be 
supposed from its form, but gives the whole matter by omitting the duplicate version of the 
letters written in an obsolete language, and adopting only the more modern, readable version 
published by Fenn. 

" The Paston Letters are an important testimony to the progressive condition of society, and 
come in as a precious link in the chain of the moral history of England, which they alone io 
this period supply. They stand indeed singly in Europe." — Hallam. 

FIELDING'S WORKS, EDITED BY ROSCOE, COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 

(Tom Jones, Amelia, Jonathan Wild, Joseph Andrews. Plays, Essays, and Miscellanies.) 
Medium 8vo, with 20 ca])ital Plates by Cruikshank .pub. at U. 4s.), cloth gilt, 14*. 1848 

"Of all the works of imagination to which English genius has given origin, the writinifs of 
Henry Fielding are perhaps most decidedly and exclusively her own." — Sir Watler Scott. 

"The prose Homer of hitman nature." — Lord Byron. 

FOSTER'S ESSAYS ON DECISION OF CHARACTER ; on a Man's Writing Memoir* 
of Himself; on the epithet Romantic; on the Aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Reli- 
gion, &c. Fcap. 8vo, Eighteenth Edition (pub. at e».), cloth, 5.t. 184S 
" I have read with the greatest admiration the Essays of Mr. Ko.-itcr. He is one of the most 
profound and eloquent writers that England has produced." — Sir James Mackintosh. 

FOSTER'S ESSAY ON THE EVILS OF POPULAR IGNORANCE. New Edition, 
elegantly printed, in fcap, 8vo, now first uniform with his Essays on Decision of Character, 
cloth, is. 1S47 

"Mr, Foster always considered this his best work, and the one by which he wished his 
literary claims to be estimated." 

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part of the attention which it deserves." — Dr. Pye Smith. 

FROISSARTS CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN, &C. New 

Edition, bv Colonel Johnes, with 120 beautiful Woodcuts, 2 vols, super-royal 8vo, cloth 
lettered (pub. at U. \&s.), U. 6s. 1849 

FROISSART, ILLUMINATED ILLUSTRATIONS OF, 74 plates, printed in gold and 

colours, 2 vols, super-royal 8vo, half bound, uncut (pub. at il. lOs.), 3/. U>j. 
—————— the same, large paper, 2 vols, royal 4to, half bound, uncut (pub. at in/, in.t.), 6^ G*. 

FROISSART'S CHRONICLES, WITH the 74 illuminated illustrations 

INSERTED, 2 vols, super-roval 8vo, elegantly half bound red morocco, gilt edges, enible- 
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GAZETTEER.-NEW EDINBURGH UN'IVERSAL GAZETTEER, AND GEOGR.\- 
PHICAL DICTIONARY, more complete than any hitherto published. New Edition, revised 
and completed to the present time, by John Thomson (Editor of the Universul Atlas, tic), 
very thick 8vo (imo pages), Mai)s (p\i'b. at 1S.(.), cloth, ll'.?. 

This comprehensive volume is the latest, and by fiir the best Universal Gazetteer of its size. 
It includes a full account of Affghanistan, New Zealand, &c. &c. 

CELLS (SIR WILLIAM) TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND ITS VICINITY. An 

improved Edition, complete in 1 vol. 8vo, with several Plates, clotl), !2s. With a very large 
Map of Rome and its Environs (from a most careful trigonometrical survey ), mounted on cloth, 
and folded in a case so as to form a volume. Together 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, M. U. I84fi 
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journal, we could, after all, afford but a meagre indication of their interest and wortli. It is, 
indijed, a lasti g memorial of eminent literary exertion, devoted to a subject of great import- 
ance, and one dear, not only to every scholar, but to every reader of intelligence to whom the 
truth of history is an object of consideration." 

GILLIES' (DR.) HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, Relating to Remarkable Periods of the 
Success of the Gospel, including the Appendix and Supplement, with Prefaces and Con- 
tinuation by the Rev. H. Boxar, royal Svc (pub. at Ijs. ml.), cloth; Is. Cd. 1845 

GLEIG'S MEMOIRS OF WARREN HASTINGS, Orst Governor-General of BengaL 3 
vols. 8V0, fine Portrait (^ub. at 21. Ss.), cloth, 1^. is. 1841 

GOETHE'S FAUST, PART THE SECOND, as completed in 18.11, translated into English 
Verse by John Macdonald Bell, Esq. Second Edition, fcap. 8vo (pub. at 6s.l, cloth, 3*. 

1842 

COLDSMITH'S WORKS, with a Life and Notes. 4 vols. fcap. 8vo, with emrraved Titles and 
Plates by Stothard and Cruikshank. New and elegant Edition (pub. at 11.). extra 
cloth, 12s. 1848 

" Can any author— can even Sir Walter Scott, be compared with Goldsmith for the variety, 
beauty, and power of his compositions? You may take him and 'cut him out in little stars,' so 
many lights does he present to the imagination." — Alkentmim. 

"The volumes of Goldsmith will ever constitute one of the most precious 'wells of English 
undefiled.'" — Quarterly Keview. 

GORDON'S HISTORY OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION, and of the War. and Cam- 

paigus arising from the Struggles of the Greek Patriots in emancipating their countrv from th« 
Turkish yoke. By the late Thomas Gordon, General of a Divi.'ion of the Greek Army. 
Second Edition. 2 vols. 8to, Maps and Plans (pub. at 1/. los.), cloth, lot. 6d. 



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GORTON'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, 3 thick toIs. Sto, cloth lettered (pnb. at 

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GRANVILLE'S (DR.) SPAS OF ENGLAND and Principal Sea Bathing Places. 3 yoU. 
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GRANVILLE'S (DR.) SPAS OF GERMANY, 8vo, with 39 Woodcuts and Maps (pub. at 
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HALL'S (CAPTAIN BASIL) PATCHWORK, consisting of Travels, and Adventures In 
Switzerland, lUlr, France, Sicily, Malta, kc. 3 vols, 12mo, Second Edition, cloth, gilt (pub. at 
15*.), 7*. 6d. 

HEEREN'S (PROFESSOR) HISTORICAL WORKS, translated from the German, viz.- 
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Tol.— Ancient Greece, and Historical Treatises, 1 vol.— Manual of Ancient His- 
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*»* New and Complete Editions, with General Indexes. 

"Professor Heeren's Historical Researches stand in the very highest rank among those with 
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HEEREN'S HISTORICAL RESEARCHES INTO THE POLITICS, INTERCOURSE, 

AND TRADES OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS OF AFRICA ; including the Carthaginians, 
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Author, new Appendixes, and other Additions. Complete in 1 vol. 8vo, cloth, 16*. 1850 

HEEREN'S HISTORICAL RESEARCHES INTO THE POLITICS, INTERCOURSE, 

AND TRADES OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS OF ASIA; including the Persians, Phoe- 
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Tols. 8vn, elegantly printed (pub. originally at 21. 5s.), cloth, 1/. 4s. 1846 
"One of the most valuable acquisitions made to our historical stories since the days of 
Gibbon. ' '—Athenavm. 

HEEREN'S MANUAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF 

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to its re-establishment upon the l^all of Napoleon, translated from the Fifth German Edition 
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"The best History of Modem Europe that has yet appeared, and it is likely long to remain 
Without a riv Hi. "—A then (Turn. 

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HEEREN'S ANCIENT GREECE, translated by Bancroft; and HISTORICAL 

TREATISES; viz:— 1. The Political Consequences of the Reformation. II. The Rise, Pro- 
gress, and Practical Influence of Political Theories. III. The Rise and Growth of the Conti- 
nental Interests of Great Britain. In 1 vol. 8vo, with Index, cloth, 15*. 1847 

HEEREN'S MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY, particularly with regard to the Consti- 
tutions, the Commerce, and the Colonies of the States of Antiquity. Third Edition, corrected 
and improved. 8vo (pub. at 15*.), cloth, 12*. 
*»• New Edition, mth Inder. 184/ 
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useful for our English higher schools or colleges, and will contribute to direct attention to the 
better and more instructive parts of history. The translation is executed with great fidelity." 
—Quarterly Journal of Education. 

HEEREN'S MANUAL OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. For the nse of Schools and 
Private Tuition. Compiled from the Works of A. H. L. Heeren, 12mo (pub. at 2s. Crf.), 
cloth, 2*. Oxford, Talboys, 1830 

" An excellent and most useful little Tolnme, and admirably adapted for the use of schools 

and private instruction."— literary Gazette. 
" A valuable addition to our list of school books." — Athenarum. 

JACOBS HISTORICAL INQUIRY INTO THE PRODUCTION AND CON- 
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JAMES'S WILLIAM THE THIRD, comprising the History of his Reign, illustrated in a 
series of unpublished letters, addressed to the Duke of Shrewsbury, by James Vbrnon, 
Secretary of State, with Introduction and Notes, by G. P. R. James, Esq. 3 vols. 8vo, Por- 
traits (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 18*. 1841 

JAENISCH'S CHESS PRECEPTOR; a new Analysis of the openings of Games; translated, 
with Notes, by Walker, 8vo, cloth lettered (pub. at 15*.), 6*. 6d. 1847 

»OHNSON'S (DR.) ENGLISH DICTIONARY, printed verbatim from the Author's last 
Folio Edition. With all the Examples in full. To which art prefixed a History of the Lan- 
guage, and an English Grammar. 1 large vol. imperial 8vo (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, U. 8*. 1840 

OHNSON'S fDR.) LIFE AND WORKS, byMuRPHT. New and improved Edition, com- 
plete in 2 thick vols. Svo, Portrait, cloth lettered (pub. at \l. 11*. 6d.), 15*. 185C 

»1HNSONIANA; a Collection of Miscellaneous Anecdotes and Sayings, gathered from nearly a 
hundred different Publications, and not coctained in Bosweli.'s Life of Johnson. Edited by 
}. W. Croker, M.P. thick fcap. Ivo. uoruoit »"a frontispiece (pub. at 10*.), cloth, 4*. 6<<. 

184S 



18 



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JOHNSTON'S TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN ABYSSINIA, through the CountTy of A4al, 
to the Kingdom of Shoa. 2 vols. 8vo, map and plates (pub. at II. 8s.), cloth, lUfi. HU, 1U44 

KIRBY'S WONDERFUL MUSEUWI. 5 vols. Syo, upwards of 100 curious pcfftratts an* 
plates (pub. at il. is.), cloth, U. Is. 

KNIGHT'S JOURNEY-BOOKS OF ENGLAND. BERKSHIRE, including a full Descrip- 
tion of Windsor. With 23 Engravings on Wood, and a large ilhnninated Map. Reduced 
to iJ. 6d. 

HAMPSHIRE, including the Isle of Wight. With 32 Engravings on Wood, and a large jllur 
'■ minated Map. Reduced to 2s. 

DERBYSHIRE, including the Peak, &c. With 23 Engravings on Wood, and a large illumi- 
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KENT. With 58 Engravings on Wood, and aHarge illuminated Map. Reduced to 2». 6d. 

KNOWLES'S IMPROVED WALKERS PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY, contabiing 
above 50,060 additional Words; to which is added an Accentuated Vocabulary of Classical and 
Scripture Proper Names, new Edition, in 1 thick handsome volume, large 8vo, with Portrait, 
cloth lettered (pub. at U. is.), 7s. 6d. 1849 

LACONICS; OR, THE BEST WORDS OF THE BEST AUTHORS. Seventh 
Edition. 3 vols. 18mo, with elegant Frontispieces, containing 30 Portraits (pub. at 15s.), cloth 
gilt, 7j. dd. Till, 1840 

This pleasant collection of pithy and sententious readings, from the best English authors of 
all ages, has long enjoyed great and deserved popularity. 

LANE'S KORAN, SELECTIONS FROM THE. with an interwoven Commentary, trans- 
lated from the Arabic, methodically arranged, and illustrated by Notes, 8vo (pub. atlOs. &/.), 
cloth, 5(. ' iuu 

LEAKE'S (COL) TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 3 vols.Svo. With a very large Map of 
the Morea, and upwards of 30 various Maps, Plans, Plates of ancient Greek Inscriptions, &c. 
(pub. at 2^. 6s.) clotb, 1/. 8i. 1830 

LEWIS'S (MONK) LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE, with many Pieces in Prose and 
Verse never before published. 2 vols. 8vo, portrait (pub. at U. 8s.), cloth, 12s. 1831^ 

LISTERS LIFE OF EDWARD FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON- With Original 
Correspondence and Authentic Papers, never before published. 3 vols. 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 
21. 8s.), cloth, 18s. .1838 
" A Work of laborious research, written with masterly ability." — Atlas, 

LOCKHART'S HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO AND NEW SPAIN, 

AND MEMOIRS OF THE CONGUISTADOR, BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO. 
Written by himself, and now first completely translated from the original Spanish. 2 vols. 
8vo, (pub. at 1/. 4s.), cloth, 12s. ISU 
"Bernal Diaz's account bears all the marks of authenticity, and is accompanied with such 
pleasant naivete, with such interesting detailSj and such amusing vanity, and yet fo pardonable 
in an old soldier, wlio has been, as he boasts, m a hundred and nineteen battles, as renders his 
book one of the most singular that is to be found in any language."— Robertson in hi* 
" Hist or 1/ of America." 

LODGE'S (EDMUND) ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, 

AND MANNERS, in the Reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, and James 1. 
Second Edition, with above 80 autographs of the prine^al characters of the period. Tliree 
vols. Svo (pub. at U. 16s.), cloth, U. 1838 

MACGREGOR'S PROGRESS OF AMERICA FROM THE DISCOVERY BY 

COLUMBUS, to the year 1846, comprLsing its History and Statistics, 2 remarkably thick 
volumes, imp. 8vo, cloth lettered (pub. at ii. lis. 6rf. ), U. lis. 6d. 1847 

MALCOLM'S MEMOIR OF CENTRAL INDIA. Two vols. Svo, third edition, with Jarpg 
map (pub, at M. 8s.), cloth, 18s. 1833 

MARTIN S (MONTGOMERY) BRITISH COLONIAL LIBRARY; forming a popular 
and Authentic Description of all the Colonies of the British Empire, and enihracing the 
History— Physical Geogrraphy— Geology— Climate— Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral King- 
doms — Government — Ftiiance — Military Defence — Commerce — Shipiiing — Monetarj- System- 
Religion— Population, White and Coloured— Education and the Press— Enii. ration— Social 
State, &c., of each Settlement. Founded on Official and Public Documents, furnished by 
Government, the Hon. East India Company, &c. Illustrated by original Maps and Plates. 
10 vols, foolscap Svo (pub. at 31.), cloth, U. I5s. 

These 10 vols, contain the 5 vols. Svo, verbatim, with a few additions. Each Tolume of the 
above series is complete in itself, and sold separately, as follows, at > 6d. :— 
Vol. I.— The Canadas, Upper and Lower. 
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Vol. IV.— The West Indies. Vol. I.— Jamaica, Honduras, Trinidad, Tobago, Grajsada, 
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Vol. v.— The West Indies. Vol. II.— British Guiana, Barbadoes, St. Lucia., St. Vincent, 
Demerara, Essequibo, Berbice, Anguilla, Tortola, St. Kitt's, Barbuda, Antigua, Montserrat, 
Pominica, and Nevis. 

Vol. VI.— Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Islk, 
The BEfiDUDAS, Newfoundland, and Hudson's Bay. • 
Vol. VII.— Gibraltar, Malta, The Ionian Islands, &c. 

Vol. VIII.— The East Indies. Vol. I. containing Bengal, Ma'ras, Bombay, Agra, &c. . 
Vol. IX.— The Ea.st Indies. Vol. II. 

"Vol. X.— British Possessions in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, viz.— Ceylon, 
J?«nang, Malacca, Singapore, Sierra Leont thi Gambia, C*^ Coast Castle, Accra, thti Fulk- 
»j3ld Islands, St. Ile ena and Asceuiiia 



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19 



MARTIN'S (IVIONTGOIViERY) CHINA, Political, Gommercial, and Sf.cial. Two vols. 
8vo, 6 maps, statistical tables, &c. (pub. at U. is.), cloth, 14si 1847 

MAXWELL'S LIFE OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 3 handsome volumes, 8vo, 
Embellislied with numerous hiphly-finished Line-Knarravings by Coopku and other eminent 
Artists, consisting of Battle-Pieces. Portraits, Military Plans and Maps; besides a great 
mumber of fine Wood Engravinffs. (Pub. at 3/. 7s.), eleg'ant in gilt cloth, 11. ICs. Large paper, 
'India proofs (pub. at 5/.), gilt cloth, 31. 3.«. 1839-41 
Mr. Maxwell's ' Life of the Duke of Wellington,' In our opinion, has no rival among similar 

publications of the day We pronounce it free from flattery and boml)ast, succinct 

and masterly The type and mechanical execution are admirable ; the plans of 

battles and sieges numerous, ample, and useful; the portraits of the Duke and his warrior 
contemporaries many and faithful; the battle pictures animated and brilliant; and the 
vignettes of costumes and manners worthy of the military genius of Horace Vernet himself."— 
Tinges. 

MILL'S ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, new Edition, revised and corrected, 
8vo (pub. at 8«.), cloth, 3s. dd. 1844 

MILTON'S WORKS, BOTH PROSE AND POETICAL, with an Introductory Jleview, 
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This is the only complete edition of Milton's Prose Works, at a moderate price. 

MITFORDS HISTORY OF GREECE, BY LORD REDESDALE, the Chronology cor- 
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Edition, 1S38) 8 vols. 8vo (pub. at 4^. is.}, gilt cloth, U. 18s. 
Tree-inarbled calf extra, by Clarke, il. is. 

In respect to this new and impraved edition, one of the most eminent scholars of the present 
day has expressed his opinion that "the increased advantages given to it have doubled the 
original value of the work." 

It should be observed that the numerous additions and the amended Chronology, from that 
valuable performance, the Fasti I/eUenici, are subjoined in the shape of Notes, so as not to 
interfere with the integrity of the text. 

As there are many editions of Mitford's Greece before the public, it may be necessary to 
observe that the present octavo edition is the only one which contains Mr. King's last correc- 
tions and additions (which, as stated in his advertisement, are material); it is at the same 
time the only edition which should at the present day be chosen for the gentleman's library, 
being the handsomest, the most correct, and the most complete. 

Lord Byron says of Mitford, " His is the best Modern History of Greece in any language, 
and he is perhaps the best of all modern historians whatsoever. His virtues are learning, 
laliour, research, and earnestness." 

" Considered with respect, not only to the whole series of ancient events which it comprises, 
but also to any very prominent portion of that series, Mr. Mitford's History is the best that 
has appeared since the days of Xenophon." — Edirihuryh Review. 

MONSTRELETS CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE, by Colonel 
JoHNiss, with Notes, and upwards of 100 Woodcuts (uniform with Froissart), 2 vols, super- 
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MOORE'S (THOMAS) EPICUREAN, A TALE; AND ALCIPHRON, A POEM. 

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or elegantly bound in morocco, 7s. (iti. 1839 

MORES UTOPIA, OR, THE HAPPY REPUBLIC, a Philosophical Romance; to which 
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Notes, by J. A. St. John, fcap. 8vo (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 4s. 6rf.— With the Life of Sir Thomas 
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NELSON'S LETTERS AND DISPATCHES, by Sir Harris Nicolas, 7 vols. 8vo (pub. 
at bl. lOs.), cloth, 3/. lOs. 1845-46 

MIEBUHR'S HISTORY OF ROME epitomized, with Chronological Tables and an Ap- 
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CSSIAN'S POEMS, translated bj Macptikrson, with Dissertations concerning the Era and 
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18mo, Frontispiece (pub. at 4s.), cloth, 3s. 1844 

OUSELEYS (SIR WILLIAM) TRAVELS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE 

EAST, MORE PAKTICULARLY PERSIA; with Extracts from rare and valuable Oriental 
Manuscripts; and SB Plates and Maps, 3 vols. 4to (pub. at U/.), extra cloth boards, 3Z. 3s. 

OXFORD ENGLISH PRIZE ESSAYS, new Edition, brought down to 1836, 5 vols, crown 
8vo. cloth lettered (pub. at 2'.. 5s.), U. bs. 

PARDOE'S (MISS) CITY OF THE MAGYAR, Or Hun^ar^• and her Institutions in 1839- 
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PARRY'S CAMBRIAN PLUTARCH, comprising Memoirs of some of the most eminent 
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PERCYS RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY, consisting of Old Heroic 
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and a copious Glossary, complete in 1 vol. medium Svo. New and elegant Edition, with beau- 
tifully engraved Title and Frontisi)iece, by Stf.phanoff (pub. at l;-.^.), cloth, gilt, 7s. M. 1844 
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copv of these beloved volumes; nor do I believe 1 ever read a book half so frequently, or with 
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20 



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POPULAR ERRORS EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. By John t.mbs (Author 
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PRIOR'S LIFE OF EDMUND BURKE, with unpublished Specimens of his Poetry ami 
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" Excellent feeling, in perspicuous and forcible language."— QuaWeWy Review. 



PRIOR'S LIFE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH, from a variety of Original Sources, 2 vols. 8yo, 

Mr. 

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handsomely printed (pub. at U. lOs.), gilt cloth, 12s. 1S37 
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enabled to bring together for the first time. No poet's letters in the world, not even those of 
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RAFFLES' HISTORY OF JAVA, AND LIFE, with an account of Bencoolen, and Details 
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many finely coloured (pub. at 4^. 14s.), cloth, 21. 8s. 1830-35 

RICH'S BABYLON AND PERSEPOLIS, viz. Narrative of a Journey to the Site of 
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Inscriiitions. 8vo, Maps and Plates (pub. at II. Is.), cloth, 10s. 6d. Duncan, 1839 

RITSON'S VARIOUS WORKS AND METRICAL ROMANCES, as Published by 
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Songs and Ballads, 2 vols.— Memoirs of the Celts, 1 vol.— Life of King Arthur, 1 vol.— Ancient 
Popular Poetrv, 1 vol.— Fairy Tales, 1 vol.— Letters and Memoirs of Ritson, 2 vols : together 
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RITSON'S ROBIN HOOD, a Collection of Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, relative to that 
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RITSON'S ANNALS OF THE CALEDONIANS, PICTS, AND SCOTS. 2 vols. IGs. 

RITSON'S MEMOIRS OF THE CELTS OR GAULS. 10s. 

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RITSON'S LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH RITSON, Esq. edited from Originals in thp 
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ROBINSON CRUSOE, Cabinet Pictorial Edition, including his Further Adventures, with 
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RODNEY'S (LORD) LIFE, by Lieut.-Gen. Mundy, New Edition, fcap. 8vo, Portrait, cloth 
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ROLLIN'S ANCIENT HISTORY, a New and complete Edition, with engraved Frontispieces 
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ROSCOE'S LIFE AND PONTIFICATE OF LEO THE TENTH. New and much 

improved Edition, edited by his Son, Thomas Roscoe. Complete in 1 stout vol. 8vo, closely 
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gravings, as head and tail-pieces, cloth, 1^ 4s. 1845 

ROSCOES LIFE OF LORENZO DE MEDICI, CALLED "THE MAGNIFICENT." 

New and much improved Edition, edited by his Son, Thomas Roscoe. Complete in 1 stout 
vol. 8vo, closely but very handsomely printed, illustrated by numerous Engravings, introduced 
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Roscoe to the very first rank ot English Classical Historians." — MullUias, Pursuits oj Literature. 

" Roscoe is, I think, liy far the best of our Historians, both for beauty of style and for deep 
reflections; and his translations of poetry are eaual to the originals.' -Watpole, Earl of Orford. 

ROSCOES ILLUSTRATIONS, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL, of the Life oi 
Lorenzo de Medici, with an Appendix of Original Documents. 8vo, Portrait of Lorenzo, and 
Plates (pub. at 14s.), boards, 7s., or in 4to, printed to match the original edition. Portrait 
and Plates (pub. at 1/. lis. 6c/.), boards, 10.,. 
*«* This volume is supplementary to all editious of the work. 



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21 



ROXBURGHE BALLADS, edited by John Payne Collier, post 4to, beautifully printed 
by Whittingham, and embellished with 50 curious Woodcuts, half bound morocco, in the 
Roxburgh style (pub. at U. 12». 1847 

SCOTT S (SIR WALTER) POETICAL WORKS. Containing Lay of the Last Minstrel, 
Mannion, Lady of the Lake, Don Roderic, Rokeby, Ballads, Lyrics, and Songs, with Notes 
and a Life of the Author, complete in one elegantly printed vol. 18mo, Portrait and Frontis- 
piece (pub. at is.), cloth, 3s, 6d. 1843 

SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS AND POEMS. Valpy's Cabinet Pktorial Edition, with Lifej 
Glossarial Notes, and Historical Digests of each Play, &c. 15 vols. fcap. 8vo, with 171 Platas 
engraved on Steel after desiirns of the most distinguished British Artists, also Fac-similes 'li 
all the Imown Autographs of Shakespeare (pub. at 31, los.), cloth, richly gilt, 21. 5». 1843 

SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS AND POEMS, in l vol. 8vo, with Explanatory Notes, acd a 
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SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS AND POEMS, Pocket Edition, with a Life by Alexander 
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ings (pub. at 10s. 6d.), sloth, 5i. 1818 

SHERIDAN'S (THE RIGHT HON. R. BRINSLEY) SPEECHES, with a Sketch of his 
Life, Edited by a Constitutional Friend. New and handsome library Edition, with Portrait, 
complete in 3 vols. Svo (pub. at 21. os.), cloth, 18s. 1842 
" Whatever Sheridan has done, has been par excellence, alvrays the best of its kind. He has 
written the best comedy (School for Scandal), the best drama (The Duenna), the best farce (The 
Critic), and the best address (Monologue on Garrick); and to crown all, delivered the very 
best oration (the famous Begum Speech) ever conceived or heard in this country."— iJi^row. 

SHIPWRECKS AND DISASTERS AT SEA; narratives of the most remarkable Wrecks, 
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SMOLLETT'S WORKS, Edited by Roscoe. Complete in 1 vol. (Roderick Random, Hum- 
phrey Clinker, Peregrine Pickle, Launcelot Greaves, Count Fatlicm, Adventures of an Atom, 
Travels, Plays, &c.) Medium 8vo, with 21 capital Plates, by Cruikshank (pub. at \l. is.), 
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Perhaps no books ever written excited such peals of inextinguishable laughter as Smol- 
lett's."— Sir Walltr Scott. 

SOUTHEY'S LIVES OF UNEDUCATED POETS. To which are added, "Attempts in 
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(pub. at 21. 12s. 6c/.), cloth, 1/. 1». 1845 

STERNE'S WORKS, complete in 1 vol. Svo, Jortrart and vignette (pub. at 18s.), cloth, 10s. 6cf. 

ST. PIERRE'S WORKS, including the Studies of Nature," "Paul and Virginia," and the 
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complete in 2 thick vols. fcap. Svo, Portra\t and Frontispieces (pub. at 16s.), cloth, 7s. 1846 

SWIFT'S WORKS, Edited by Roscoe. Complete in 2 vols. Medium Svo, Portrait (pub. at 
1/. 12s.), cloth gilt, 1/. 4s. 1848 
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TAYLOR'S (W. B. S.) HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN, numerous 
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THIERS' HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, the lo parts in I thick vol. 
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THIERS' HISTORY OF THE CONSULATE AND tMPIRE OF NAPOLEON, 

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clotU, 15$. 1842 
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TYTLER'S ELEMENTS OF GENERAL HISTORY, New Edition, thick l2mo (526 
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WADE'S BRITISH HISTORY, CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. Comprehending 
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Political, Commercial, Intellectual, and Social Progress of the United Kingdom, from the first 
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WATERSTQN'S CYCLOP/EDIA OF COMMERCE, MERCANTILE, LAW, FINANCE, 
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IOj. 6rf. 1847 
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iWEBSTER'S ENLARGED DJCTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 

Containing the whole of the former editions, and large additions, to which is prefixed an Intro- 
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by Ch AUNCEY A. Gdodrich, in one thick elegantly printed volume, 4to., cloth, 21. 2s. {The 
most complete dictionary extant). 1848 

WHITE'S FARRIERY, improved by Rosser, 8vo, with plates engraved on Steel (pub. at 14j.), 
cloth, 7s. 1847 

WHYTES HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD 
TO THE PRESENT DAY. 2 vols. 8vo, Plates (pub. at U. 85.), cloth, 123. 1840 

WILLIS'S PENCILLINGS BY THE WAY. A new and beautiful Edition, with additions, 
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curiosity and love of enterprise are unbounded. The narrative is told in easy, fiuent liuiguage, 
with a poet's power oT il\astra.tion."—Edinbu.r(/h Review. 

WORCESTER'S NEW CRITICAL AND PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF 

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, to which is added Walker's Key, and a Pronouncing Voca- 
bulary of modern Geogrraphical Names, thick imperial 8vo (pub. at U. 5«.), cloth, 18*. 1847 
*♦* The most extensive catalogue of words ever produced. 

WRANGELL'S EXPEDITION TO SIBERIA AND THE POLAR SEA, edited by 
Lieut.-Col. Sabine, thick 12mo, large map and port. (pub. at 6.?.), cloth, 4s. 6d. 1844 

WRIGHT'S COURT HAND RESTORED, or the student assisted in reading old charters, 
deeds, &c. small 4to, 23 plates (pub. at 11. Gs.), cloth, lU. 1845 



BJNGHAMS ANTIQUITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. New and Improved 

Edition, carefully revised, with an enlarged Index. 2 vols. impl. 8vo, cloth, 1/. Hi. 6cf. 1850 
" Bingham is a writer wlio does equal honour to the English clergy and to the English 
nation, and whose learning is only to be equalled by his moderation and impartiality." — 
Quarterly Review. 

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Quite complete, with a Life and Notes, by the Rev 
T. Scott Fcap. 12m.o, with 25 fine full-sized Woodcuts by Harvey, containing all in 
Southey's edition; also a fine Frontispiece and Vignette, cloth, 3s. 6d. 1814 

CALMETS DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, WITH THE BIBLICAL FRAG 

MENTS, by the late Charle.s Taylor. 5 vols. 4to, Illustrated by 2fi2 Copper-plate En- 
gravings. Eiirhth greatly enlarged Edition, beautifully printed on fine wove paper (pub. at 
101. gilt cloth, 4^. Us. 6<i. 1847 

"Mr. Taylor's improved edition of Calmet's Dictionary is indispensably necessary to every 
Biblical Student. The additions made under the title of ' Fragments' are extracted from the 
most rare and authentic Voyages and Travels into Judea and other Oriental countries; and 
comprehend an assemblage of curious and illustrative descriptions, explanatory of Scripture 
incidents, customs, and manners, which could not possibly he explained by any other medium. 
The numerous engravings throw great light on Oriental customs."— i/orae. 

CALMET'S DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE, abridged,! large voL Imperial 8vo, 
Woodcuts and Maps (imb. at 1/. is.), cloth, los. 1847 

CARYS testimonies of THE FATHERS OF THE FIRST FOUR CENTU- 
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32NGLAND, as set forth in the XXXIX Articles, Svo (pub. at 12s.), cloth, 7s. 6rf. 

Oxford, Talboys. 

"Tills work may be classed with those of Pearson and Bishop Bull; and such a classifica- 
Uon is no mean honour."— CAurcA of England Quarterly. 

CHARNOCK'S discourses UPON THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES 

OF GOD. Complete in 1 thick closely printed vol. 8vo, with Portrait (pub. at 14s.), 
cloth, 6s. M. 1845 
" Perspicuity and depth, metaphysical sublimitj- and evangelical simplicity, immense learn- 
ing but irrefragable reasoning, conspire to render this performance or.e of the most inestimable 
productions that ever did honour to the sanctified judgment and genius of a human being."-— 
. Toplady. 



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23 



CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Containing the following esteemed Treatises, with Prefatory 
Memoirs hy tlie P>.ev. J.S. Memks, L.L.D. viz :— Watson's Apolo;fy for Christianity, Watson's 
Apolofry for tlie Bible; Paley's Evidences of Christianity; Paley's Horie Pauliiine; Jenyn's 
Internal Evidence of the Christian Relittion; Leslie's Truth of Christianity Demonstrated; 
Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists; Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the 
Jews; Chandler's Plain Pieasons for being a Christian; Lyttleton on the Conversion of St. 
Paul; Cami)heirs Dissertation on Miracles; Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses, with Sequel^i 
West on the Resurrection. In 1 voL royal 8vo (pub. at 14j. ), cloth, 10». 184S 

CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Consisting of the following Expositions and Treatises, Edited by 
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Guild's Moses Unveiled; Guild's Harmony of all the Prophets; Less's Authenticity, Un- 
corrupted Preservation and Credibility of the New Testament; Stuarfs Letters on the 
Divinity of Christ. In 1 vol. royal 8vo (pub. at 12«. ), cloth, 8j. 1844 

CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE TO TTHE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, revised 
and condensed by G. H. Hannay, thick l8mo, beautifully printed (pub. at 6a.), clotli, 3s. ,6(1. ' 

1844 

"An extremely pretty and very cheap edition. It contains all that is useful in the original 
•work, omitting only prepositions, conjunctions, &c. which can never be made available for 
purposes of reference. Indeed it is all that the Scripture student can desire."— Guurrfian. 

FULLER'S (REV. ANDREW) COMPLETE WORKS; with a Memoir of his Life, byhis 
Son, 1 large vol. imperial 8vo, New Edition, Portrait (pub. at U. 10*.), cloth, 11. 5i. 1845 

GREGORY'S (DR OLINTHUS) LETTERS ON THE EVIDENCES, DOCTRINES, 

AND DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, addressed to a Friend. Eighth Edition, 
with many Additions and Corrections. Complete in 1 thick well-printed vol. leap. 8vo (pub. 
at 7j. 6f/.), cloth, 5». 1846 
" We earnestly recommend this work to the attentive perusal of all cultivated minds. We 
are acquainted with no book in the circle of English Literature which is equally calculated to 
give young persons just views of the evidence, the nature, and the importance of revealed 
religion."— fto6ert Hall. 

GRAVES'S (DEAN) LECTURES ON THE PENTATEUCH. 8vo, New Edition (pul?. 
at cloth, 9«. ISiS 

HALL'S (BISHOP) ENTIRE WORKS, with an account of his Life and Sufferings. New 
Edition, with considerable Additions, a Translation of all the Latin Pieces, and a Glossary, 
Indices, and Notes, by the Rev. Peter Hall, 12 vols. 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 71. 4s.), cloth, 51. 

Oxford, Talboys, 1837-39 

HALL'S (THE REV ROBERT) COMPLETE WORKS, with a Memoir of his Life, bjr 

Dr. Olinthus Gregory, and Observations on his Character as a Preacher, by John Foster, 
Author of Essavs on Popular Ignorance, &C. 6 vols. 8vo, handsomely pr.nted, with beautiful 
Portrait (pub. at 3/. 16s.), cloth, contents lettered, U. llj. 6(i. 

The same, printed in a smaller size, 6 vols. fcap. 8vo, M. \s. cloth, lettered. 

"Whoever wishes to see the English lansuage in i'-s perfection must read tlie writings of that 
great Divine, Robert Hall. He combines' the beauties of Johnson, Addison, and Burke, 
■without their imperfections." — Dugald Stewart. 

" I cannot do better than refer the academic reader to the immortal works of Robert HalJ. 
For moral grandeur, for Christian truth, and for sublimity, we may doubt whether they have 
their match in the sacred oratorj- of any age or country." — Prnfessor Sedgwick. 

" The name of Robert Hall will he placed by posterity among the best writers of the ag«, as 
well as the most vigorous defenders of religious truth, and the brightest examples of Christian 
charity." — Sir J. Mackintosh. 

HENRY'S (MATTHEW) COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE, by Bickersteth. In 
6 vols. 4to, New Edition, printed on fine paper (pub. at 9i. 9s.), cloth, 3^. 13«. dd. 1840 

HILL'S (REV. ROWLAND) MEMOIRS, by his Friend, the Rev. W. Jones, Edited, with 
a Preface, by the Rev. James Sherman ( Rowland Hill's Successor as Minister of Surrey 
Chapel). Second Edition, carefully revised, thick poet 8vo, fine Steel Portrait (pub. at 10s.) 
cloth, 5s. 1845 

HOPKINS'S (BISHOP) WHOLE WORKS, with a memoir of the Author, In I thick vol. 
royal 8vo (pub. at I8s. ), cloth, 14s. The same, with a very extensive general Index of Texts 
and Subjects, 2 vols, royal 8vo (pub. at \l. 4s.), cloth, 18s. 1841 
"Bishop Hopkins's works form of themselves a sound body of divinity. He is clear, veba ' 
meut, and ^exsm.&\\e."— Bickerttelk, 

HOWE'S WORKS, with Life, by Calamy, 1 large vol. Imperial 8vo, Portrait (pub. at U. 16s.), 
cloth, 1/. los. 1838 
" I have learned far more from John Howe t.han from any other author I ever read. There 
is an astonishing magnificence In his conceptions. He was unquestionably the greatest of the 
puritan divines."— A'o(/er< Hall. 

HUNTINGDON'S (COUNTESS OF) LIFE AND TIMES By a Member of the Houses 
of Shirley and Hastings. Sixth Thousand with a copious Index. 2 large vols. 8vo, Portraits 
of the Countess, Whitefield, and Wesley (pub. at \l. is.), cloth, 14s. 1844 

HUNTINGDON'S (REV. W.) WORKS, Edited by his Son, 6 vols. 8vo, Portraits and Platei 
(pub. at 3<. 18s. 6d.), cloth, 21. 5s. 

LEiGHTON'S (ARCHBISHOP) WHOLE WORKS; to which is pre nxed a life of the 
Author, by the Rev. N. T. Pearson. New Edition, 2 thick vols. 8vo, Portrait (psb. ot \l. 4s.) 
extra cloth, lOs. The only complete Edition. 184» 



24 



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LEIGHTONS COMMENTARY ON PETER; with Life, by Peamoh, complete in l 
thick handsomely printed toI. 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 12*. )i cloth, 9*. 1849 

LIVES OF THE ENGLISH SAINTS. By thu Ret. J. H. Newmak >nd others, 14 toIs. 

l^mo (pub. at 21. St.), sewed in ornamented covers, \l. U. 1844-i 

M'CRIE'S LIFE OF JOHN KNOX, with Iltustratiom of the Hiatonr of the Reformation in 

Scotland. New Edition with numerous Additions, and a Memoir, &c. by Andrew Chicutok. 
Fcap. 8T0 (pub. at 5>.), cloth, 3$. 6d. 1847 

MAGEE'S (ARCHBISHOP) WORKS, comprising I^iscourses and Dissertations on the 

Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice ; Sermons, and Visitation Charges. With a 
Memoir of his Life, by the Rev. A. H. Kesnt, D.D. 2 vols. 8vo (pub. at 11. 63.), cloth, 18i. 

1842 

Discovers such deep research, jields so much valuable information, and affords so many 
^elps to the refutation of error, as to constitute the most valuable treasure of biblical learning, 
of which a Christian scholar can be possessed."— ( Arw/ian Obierver. 

*/IORE'S (HANNAH) LIFE, by the Rev. Hexrt Thomson, post 8vo, printed uniformly 
with her works. Portrait, and Wood Encrravings (pub. at 12j.), extra cloth, 6». Cadell, 1838 
"This may be called the official edition of Hannah More's Life. It brings so much new an I 
interesting matter into the field respecting her, that it will receive a hearty welcome from the 
public. Among the rest, the particulars of most of her publications will reward the curiosity 
of literary readers." — Literary Gazette. 

MORES (HANNAH) SPIRIT OF PRAYER, fcap. 8to, Portrait (pub. ate*.), cloth, 4#. 

Cadell, 1843 

MORE'S (HANNAH) STORIES FOR THE MIDDLE RANKS OF SOCIETY, 

and Tales for the Common People, 2 vols, post 8vo (pub. at I4j.), cloth, 9*. CaJell, 1830 

MORE'S (HANNAH) POETICAL WORKS, postsvo (pub.at8*.),cloili,3».6d. 

Cadell, 1829 

MORE'S (HANNAH) MORAL SKETCHES OF PREVAILING OPINIONS AND 

MANNERS, Foreign and Domestic, witii P»eflections on Prayer, post 8vo (puh. at 0*.), 
cloth, 4*. Cadell, 1830 

MORE'S (HANNAH) ESSAY ON THE CHARACTER AND PRACTICAL 

WRITINGS OF ST. PAUL, post 8vo (pub. at 10*. (id.), cloth, 5*. Cadell, 1837 

MORE'S (HANNAH) CHRISTIAN MORALS. Post 8 vo (pub. at 10*. M.), cloth, 5*. 

Cadell, 1836 

MORE S (HANNAH) PRACTICAL PIETY; Or, the Influence of the Religion of the 
Heart on the Conduct of the Life, 32mo. Portrait, cloth, 2*. r,d. 1850 
The only complete small edition. It was revised just before her death, and contains much 
Improvement, which is copyright. 

MORE'S (HANNAH) SACRED DRAMAS, chiefly intended for Younr People, to which is 
added "Sensiliility," an Kpistle, 32ni() (pul). at 2.i. 6t/. ), ?ilt cloth, gilt edges, 2*. 1830 
This is the last genuine edition, and contains some copyright editions, which are not in any 
other. 

ISIORE'S (HANNAH) SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS; with Ballads, Tales, Hymns. 

and Epitaphs, 32mo (pub. at 2s. Od.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 1*. Od. ISaO 

NEFF (FELIX) LIFE AND LETTERS CF, translated from the French of M. Bost, by 
M. A. Wyatt, fcap. Svo, Portrait (pub. at G*.), cloth, 3*. 6d. 184J 

PALEY'S WORKS, in l vol. consisting of his Natural Theology, Moral and Political Philosophy, 
Evidences of Christianity, Hor?e PauHnne, Cleru'yman's Companion in Visiting the Sick, &c. 
Svo, handsomely printed in double columns (pub. at 10*. 6rf.), cloth, 3*. 1849 

PALEY'S COMPLETE WORKS, with a Biographical Sketch of the Author, by Rey. D. S. 
Waylakd, 5 vols. Svo (pub. at 1/. 13*.), cloth, IK*. 1837 

PASCAL'S THOUGHTS ON RELIGION, and Adam's Private Thoughts on Religion. 

edited by the Rev. E. Bickerstftk, fcap. Svo ())ub. at 5*.), cloth, 3*. &d. 184; 

PICTORIAL DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE, Or, a Crclopsdia of IllustraHons. 

Graphic, Historical, and Descriptive of the Sacred Writings, hv 'reference to the Manners, 
Customs, Rites, Traditions, Antiquities, and Literature of Eastern Nations, 2 vols. 4to (up- 
wards of 1430 double column pages in good type), with upwards of looo illustrative Woodcuts 
(pub. 21. 10*.), extra cloth, U. 5*. 1846 

SCOTTS (REV. THOMAS) COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE, with the Author'. 

last Corrections and Improvements, and 84 beautiful Woodcut Illustrations and Maps. 3 vols 
Imperial Svo (pub. at 4/. 4*.), cloth, 1/. 16*. 1859 

SIMEON'S WORKS, including liis Skeletons of Sermons and Horie HomlleticK, or Discotirses 
digested into one continued Series, and formini; a Commentarv upon every Book of the Old 
and New Testament; to which are annexed an improved edition of Claude's Essav on the 
Composition of a Sermon, and verj- comprehensive Indexes, edited by the Rev Thomas 
Hariwsll Hoake, 31 vols. 8vo 'imb. at lol. lOt.), cloth, 7L Jt. 



PUBLISHED OE SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 



25 



The following miniature editioru of Simeon' t popular workt art uniformly printed in 32mo, md 

boursti in ciotk : 
THE CHRISTIAN'S ARMOUR, M. 
THE EXCELLENCY OF THE LITURGY, W. 
THE OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, 9d. 

HUMILIATION OF THE SON OF GOD: TWELVE SERMONS, M. 
APPEAL TO MEN OF WISDOM AND CANDOUR, 9d. 
DISCOURSES ON BEHALF OF THE JEWS, U. Cd. 

"The works of Simeon, containing 2oJ6 discourses on the principal passages of the Old knd 
Kew Testament will he found peculiarly adapted to assist the studies of the younger clergy ts 
their preparation for the pulpit; they will likewise serre as a Body of Divinity: and are by 
many recommended as a Biblical Commentary, well adapted to be read in families.''— ioumd#». 

SMYTHS (REV. DR.) EXPOSITION OF VARIOUS PASSAGES OF HOLY 

SCRIPTURE, adapted to the Use of Familiea, for everj' Day throughout the Year, 3 vols. 8vo 
(pub. at 1/. lit. 6il. ), cloth, <M. i842 

SOUTH'S (DR. ROBERT) SERMONS: to which are annexed the chief heads of the 
Sermons, a Biographical Memoir, and General Index, 2 vols, royal 8vo (pub. at 1^ 4«.), 
cloth, 18j. 1844 

STEBBING S HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, from the Diet of Augsbarg, 

1330, to the present Century, 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at 11. 16j.), cloth, 12.i. 1839 

STURM'S MORNING COMMUNING WITH GOD, OR DEVOTIONAL 

MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR, translated from the German. Ne^ 
Edition, post 8vo, cloth, oj. 1847 

TAYLOR'S (JEREMY) COMPLETE WORKS, with an Essay, Biographical and Critical, 

3 large vols, imperial 8vo, Portrait (pub. at 3/. 13s.), cloth, 31. Z>. 1836 

TAYLORS (ISAAC OF ONGAR) NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. 

Tenth Edition, fcap. 8vo^ cloth, 5*. 184S 
«' It is refreshing to us to meet with a work hearing, as this unquestionably does, the impress 
cf bold, powerful, and original thousht. Its most strikingly original views, however, never 
transgress the bounds of pure Protestant orthodoxy, or violate the spirit of truth and sober- 
ness ; and yet it discusses topics constituting the very root and basis of those furious polemics 
which have shaken repeatedly the whole intellectual and moral world."— /l<Aen<sum. 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC) FANATICISM. Third Edition, carefully revised. Fcap, 8vo, cloth, 6«. 

1843 

" It is the reader's fault if he does not rise from the perusal of such a volimte as the present 
a wiser and a better man." — EcLeclic Review. 

TAYLOR S (ISAAC) SATURDAY EVENING. Seventh Edition. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, s*. 

1844 

" ' Saturday Eveaing,' and ' Natural History of Enthusiasm,' are two noble productions."— 

Blackwood's Alayasine. 

TAYLORS (ISAAC) ELEMENTS OF THOUGHT, or concise Explanations, alphabeti- 
cally arranged, of the principal Terms employed in the usual Branches of Intellectual Philo- 
sophy. Ninth Edition. i:;mo, cloth, 4j. 1849 

TAYLOR'S (ISAAC) ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY, AND THE DOCTRINES OF THE 
OXFORD "TRACTS FOR THE TIMES." Fourth Edition, with a Supplement and 
Indexes. 2 vols. 8vo (pub. at U. 4*.), cloth, 18j. 1844 

TAYLOR S (ISAAC) LECTURES ON SPIRITUAL CHRISTIANITY. 8vo (pub. at 
4s. Gt/.), cloth, 3s. 1841 

TOMLINES (BISHOP) ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, Fourteenth 
IMiiion, with additional Notes and Summary, by Stebbing. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, lettered (pub. 
at 1^. Is.), lOi. Ct/. 

TOMLINES (BISHOP) INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

OR ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. Containing Proofs of the Authenticity 
and Inspiration oftlie Holy Scriptures; a Summary of the History of the Jews; an Account ol 
the Jew ish Sects; and a brief Statement of the Contents of the several Books of the Old and 
New Testaments. Nineteenth Edition, elegantly printed on fine paper. 12mo, (pub. at 5s. 6rf.)» 
Cloth, 3s. 6d. 1845 
" Well adapted as a manual for students in divinity, and may be read with advantage by the 
most experienced divine." — Martk't Lectures. 

WADDINGTONS (DEAN OF DURHAM) HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, 

FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE REFORMATION. 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at II. 10s.), 
cloth boards, 1/. 1$. 

WADDINGTONS (DEAN OF DURHAM) HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, 

DURING THE REFORMATION. 3 vols. 8vo (pub. at 1^. lis. 6d.), cloth boards, 18s. 1841 

WILBERFORCE'S PRACTICAL VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY. With a comprehensive 
Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. T. Price, 18mo. printed in a large handsome type (pub. at 
Os.* gilt cloth, 2s. 6rf. 1845 

WILLMOTTS (R.A.I PICTURES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. Fcap. Svo (pub. at 6s.), 
cloth, 21. 6d. Uatthard, 1841 



26 



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Jporeign Hanguagcs anli Hi'teraturc; 

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ATLASES— WILKINSON'S CLASSICAL AND SCRIPTURAL ATLAS, with nisto- 
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(pub. at 21. is.), half bound inoroccu, II. lU. 6<l. 1812 

WILKINSON S GENERAL ATLAS. New and linproved Edition, with all the Railroads 

inserted, Population according to tlie last Census, FUrliauientary Returns, &c. imperial 4to, 
46 Maps, coloured (pub. at 1^. l&i.), half bound morocco, U. at. 1842 

AINSWORTH S LATIN DICTIONARY, by Dr. Jamieson, an enlarged Edition, contain- 
ing all the words of the Q,uarto Dictionary. Thiclc 8vo, neatly bound (pub. at 14«.), 9». 1847 

BENTLEY'S (RICHARD) WORKS. Containing Dissertations upon the Epistles of Phalaris, 
Themistocles, Socrates, Eurii)iaes, and the Fubles of ^sop; Epistola ad Jo. Mllliura; Ser- 
mons; Boyle Lecture ; Remarks on Free-tliiiikiug; Critical Works, &c. Edited, with copious 
Indices and Notes, by the Rev. Albxasdur Dvce. 3 vols. 8vo; a beautifully printed Edition 
(pub. at 1/. 18<.), cloth, U. Is. 1836-38 

BIBLIA HEBRAICA, EX EDITIONS VANDER HOOGHT. Recognovit J. D. Alle- 
MANU. Very thick 8vo, handsomely printed (pub. at II. 5s.), cloth, 10*. 6d. Land. Duncan, 1850 

BIOGRAPHIE UNIVERSELLE, Anrienne et Moderne. Nouvelle Edition, revue, corrlgee et 
augmentee par une Societe de Gens de Lettres et de Savants, 21 vols, imperial 8vo (printed in 
a compressed manner in double columns, but very clear type), sewed (pub. at loi. ins.), bt. 5#. 

Jintxelles, 1843-47 

BOURNE'S (VINCENT) POETICAL WORKS, Latin and English, 18mo (pub. at 3«. 6d.), 
cloth, 2s. 6d. , 183S 

■ ' ■ ■ the samp, large paper, an elegant volume, 12mo (pub. at 5«.), cloth, Zs. 6<i. 1838 

CICERO'S LIFE, FAMILIAR LETTERS, AND LETTERS TO ATTiCUS, 

by MiDDLETON, Melmoth, and IIeberdes, complete in one thick vol. royal 3vo, portrait, 
(pub. at U. 4j.), cloth, 12a. ' 1848 

CORPUS POETARUM LATINORUM. Edidit G. S. Walkbr. Complete in 1 yery thick 

vol. royal 8vo (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 18s. 

This comprehensive volume cont^us a library of the poetical Lattn classics, correctly 

printed from the best texts, viz :— 
Catullus, Virgil, Lucan, Sulpicia, Calpurnius Siculus, 

TibuUus, Ovid, Persius, Statins, Ausonius, 

Propertius, Horace, Juvenal Silius Italicus, Claudian. 

Lucretius, Phsedrus, Martial, Valerius Flaccus, 

OAMMII LEXICON GR/ECUM, HOWIERICUM ET PINDARICUM. Cura Duncait, 

royal 4to, New Edition, printed on fine pai)er (pub. at 5/. 5s.), cloth, 1^ Is. 1842 
"An excellent work ; the meriu of ^hich have been universally acknowledged by literary 
characters." — Dr. DibUin. 

DEMOSTHENES, translated by Leland, the two vols. 8vo, complete in 1 vol. 12mo, hand- 
somely printed in double columns, in pearl type, portrait (pub. at 5i.), cloth, 3«. 

DONNEGAN S GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON, enlarged; with examples, literally 
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fully revised, and materially improved throughout ^ thick 8vo (1752 pages) (pub. at 21. 2s.), 
cloth, U. It. 1846 

GAELIC-ENGLISH AND Et^GLISH-GAELIC DICTIONARY, with Examples, Phrases, 

and Etymological Remarks, by two Members of the Highland Society. Complete in 1 thick 
vol. 8vo. New Edition, containing many more words than the 4to Edition (pub. at 11. Is.), 
cloth, 10s. 6d. 1845 

GRAGLIA'S ITALIAN-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-ITALIAN DICTIONARY, with a 

compendious Italian Grammar and Supplementary Dictionary of Naval Terms, 18mo, roan 
(pub. at 8s.), 4s. G(i. 1848 

HERMANNS MANUAL OF THE POLITICAL ANTIQUITIES OF GREECE, 

Historically considered, translated from the German, 8vo (pub. at 15s.), cloth, 10s. 6d. 

Oxford, Talboys, 1836 

" Hermann's Manual of Greek Antiquities is most important." — ThirlwaU's Hut. of Greece, 
vol. i. p. 443. 

HERODOTUS, GARY'S (REV. H.) GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON TO 

HERODOTUS, adapted to the Text of Gaisford and Baehr, and all other Editions, 8vo, clotU 
(pub. at 12*.), 8s. 

LEMPRIERE'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. Miniature Edition, containing a full Acs in*, 
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pnnted in peatl type, in 1 very thick vol. 18mo (p'ih. at 7*. Qd.), cloth, 45. 6d. l&il 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY U, G. BOIIN. 



27 



■LEE'S HEBREW GRAWiMAR, compiled from the best Authorities, and principally from 
Orif nta! Sources, desijined for tlie use of Students in the Universities. New Edition, enriched 
with much orifcinal matter. Sixth Thousand, 8vo (pub. at 12«.), cloth, 8j. Lmd. Duncan, 1840 

LEE'S HEBREW, CHALCEE, AND ENGLISH LEXICON. Compiled from the best 

Authorities, Oriental and European, Jewish and Christian, including Buxtorp, Tavlor, 
Parkhurst, and Gesenius; containing all the Words, with their Inflections, Idiomatic 
"Usages, &c. fomid in the Hebrew and Chaldee Text of the Old Testament; with numerous 
corrections of former Lexicographers and Commentators, followed by an English Index, in 1 
thick vol. 8vo. Third Thousand (pub. at II. bs.), cloth, lo3. London, 1844 

LEVERETT'S LATIN-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-LATIN LEXICON, compiled from 
Faccioi,ati and Scheller. Thick royal 8vo (pub. at II. lU. 6c/.), cloth, U. 3». 1847 

LrVII HISTORIA, EX RECENSIONE DRAKENBORCHII ET KREYSSIG;! 

Et Annotationes Crevierii, Strothji, Ri'PERTi, et aliorum; Aniniadversiones Niebuhrii, 
Wachsmuthii, et suas addidit Travers Tw iss, J. C. B. Coll. Univ. Oxon. Socius et Tutor.' 
Cum Indice amplissimo, 4 vols. 8vo (pub. at II. 18*.), cloth, U. Ss. Oxford, 1841 

This is the best and most useful edition of Livy ever published In octavo, and it is preferred' 
in all our universities and classical schools. 

LIVY. Edited by Prendeville. Livii Historise libri quinque priores, with English Notes,', 
by Prendeville. New Edition, l2mo, neatly bound in roan, a». 1845 
■ . the same, Books I to III, separately, cloth, 3*. 6ti. 
the same. Books IV and V, cloth, 3». 6d. 

NEWMAN'S PRACTICAL SYSTEM OF RHETORIC; or, the Principles and Rules oV 
Style, with Examples. Sixth Edition, 12mo (pub. at 5j. 6d.), cloth, 4*. 1846 1 

NIEBUHR'S HISTORY OF ROME, epitomized (for the use of colleges and schools), with. 
Chronolosical Tables and Appendix, by TRAvtas Twiss, B.C.D. complete in 2 vols, bound in< 

I, Gvo (.pub. at 1/. Is.), cloth, 10s. dd. Oajhrd, Talboys, 1837! 
"This edition by Mr. Twiss is a very valuable addition to classical learning, clearly and ably 

embodying all the latest efforts of the laborious Niebulir." — Lilerary Gazette. 

OXFORD CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, from the 
earliest Period to the present l ime; in wliicli all the great Events, Civil, Religious, Scientific, 
and Literary, of the various Natiopa of the N^'orld are placed, at one view, under the eye of the' 
Reader in a Series of parallel columns, so as to exhibit the state of the whole Civilized World 
at any epoch, and at the same time form a continuous chain of History, with Genealogical 
Tables of all the principal Dynasties. Complete in 3 Sections; viz:— 1. Ancient History. 

II. Middle Ages. III. Modern History. With a most complete Index to the entire work, 
folio (pub. at U. 16s.), half bound morocco, U. is. 

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PLUTARCH'S LIVES, by the Lang horses. Complete in 1 thick vol. 8vo (pub. at 15*.), 

cloth, 7s. 6d. 

RAMSHORN'S DICTIONARY OF LATIN SYNONYMES, for the U.se of Schools and 
Private Students. Translated and Edited by Dr. Lieber. Post 8vo (pub. at 7s.), cloth, 4s. 6rf. ' 

1841 

RITTER'S HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY, translated from the German, by : 
A. J. W. Morrison, B.A. Trinity College, Cambridge. 4 vols. 8vo, now completed, with a 
General Index, cloth, lettered (pub. at 3^. 4j.), 21. 2s. Oxford, 1846 

The Fourth Volume may be had separately. Cloth, 10* 

"An important work: it may he said to have superseded all the previotis histories of philo-' 
sophy, and to have become the standard work on the subject. Mr. Johnson is also exempt 
from" the usual faults of translators."— ^uarteWy Review. 

SCHCMANNS HISTORY OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF THE ATHENIANS, 

translated from the Latin, with a complete Index, 8vo (pub. at 10s. 6d.), cloth, 5s. Camb. 1838 
A book of the same school and character as the works of Heeren, Boeohk, Schlegel, &c.' 

ELLENDTS GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON TO SOPHOCLES, translated bv 

CaRY. 8vo (pub. at 12s.), cloth, Os. 6t/. Oxford, Talboys, ISil 

STUART'S HEBREW CHRESTOMATHY, designed as an Introduction to a Course of 
Hebrew Study. Third Edition, 8vo (pub. at 14*.), cloth, 9s. Oxford. Tu'.boys, 1834 

This work, w hich was designed by its learned author to facilitate the study of Hebrew, has 
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and is sufficient to complete the system of instruction in that language. 

TACITUS, CUM NOTIS BROTIERI, CURANTE A.J. VALPY. Editio nova, com 
Appendice. 4 vols. 8vo (pub. at 2(. 16s.), cloth, U. 5s. 

The most complete B'Ution. 

TACITUS, A NEW AND LITERAL TRANSI ATlON. 8vo (pub. at 16».), cloth, io*.6<3. 

Oxford, Talboys, 1839. 



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TENNEMANN S MANUAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, translated from 
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of Oxford. In 1 thick closely printed vol. Svo (pub. at 14*.), boards, 9*. t*je/ord, Talboys, 1832 
"A work which marks out all the leading epochs in philosophy, and gives minute chronolo. 
(rical information concerninsj them, with biographical notices of the founders and followers of 
the principal schools, ample texts of their works, and an account of the principal editions. In 
a word, to the student of philosophy, I know of no work in English likely to prove half so use- 
ful." — Uayward, in his Transiativn uj Goethe's Faust. 

TERENTIUS, CUM NOTIS VARIORUM, CURA ZEUNII, cura Giles; acced. Index 
copiosissimus. Complete in 1 thick vol. Svo (pub. at 16*.), cloth, 8j. 1S37 

TURNERS (DAWSON W.) NOTES TO HERODOTUS, for the Use of College 
Students. 8vo, cloth, 12*. 1847 

VALPYS GREEK TESTAMENT, WITH ENGLISH NOTES, accompanied by parallel 
passages from the Classics. Fifth Edition, 3 vols. 8vo, with 2 maps (pt;b. at 21.), cloth, \l. hs. 

1847 

VIRGIL. EDWARDS'S SCHOOL EDITION. Virgilii JEn«is, cura Edwards, et Questi- 
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12nio, hound in cloth (pub. at Gs. 6(i.), 3j. 
*»* Either the Text or Guestions may be had separately (pub. at Zs. 6d.), 2s. 6d. 

V/iLSONS (JAMES, PROFESSOR OF FRENCH IN ST. GREGORY'S COLLEGE) 

FRENCH-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-FRENCH DICTIONARY, containing full Expla- 
nations, Definitions, S\-nonyms, Idioms, Proverbs, Terms of Art and Science, and Rulel of 
Pronunciation in each Language. Cor piled from the Dictionaries of the Academy, Bowyer, 
Chambaud, Garner, Laveai'x, Des Cakriekes anu f aix. Johsson and Walker. 1 
large closely printed vol. imperial Svo (pub. at 21. 2s.), cloth, 11. is. 1841 

XENOPHONTIS OPERA, GR ET LAT. SCHNEIDERI ET ZEUNII, Accedit Index 
(Porsox and Elmsley's Edition), 10 vols, 12mo, handsomely printed in a large type, done up 
in 5 vols. (pub. at 4^ 10*. ), cloth, l&J. 1841 

« The same, large paper, 10 vols, cr^wn Svo, done up in 5 vols, cloth, 11. 5t. 

XENOPHON'S WHOLE WORKS, translated by Spelmait and others. The only complete 

Edition, 1 thick voU Svo, portrait (pub. at la».), cloth, 10*. 



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AINSWORTH'S WINDSOR CASTLE. An Historical Romance, Illnstrated by Georo« 

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BREMER'S (MISS) HOME: OR, FAMILY CARES AND FAMILY JOYS, translated by 

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THE NEIGHBOURS, A story OF every day LIFE. Translated by Mart 
HowiXT. Third Edition, revised. 2 vols, post Svo (pub. at 18*.), cloth, 7*. 6d. 1843 

tRUIKSHANK "AT HOME;" a New Family Album of Endless Entertainment, consisting 
01 a Series of Tales and Sketches by the most popular Authors, with numerous clever and 
humorous Illustrations on Wood, bv 'Crvikshank and Seymour. Also, CRUIKSHANK'S 
ODD VOLUME, OR BOOK OF VARIETY. Illustrated by Two Odd Fellows— Sext40UR 
and CauiK-SHANK. Together 4 vols, bound in 2, fcap. Svo (pub. at 21. lis.), cloth, gilt, 10*. 6d. 

1849 

HOWiTTS (WILLIAM) LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JACK OF THE MILL 

A Fireside Story. By William Uowitt. Second Edition. 2 vols. fcap. Svo, with 46 Illus- 
trations on Wood (pub. at los.), cloth, 7s. 6d. 184j 

HOWITTS (WILLIAM) WANDERINGS OF A JOURNEYMAN TAILOR, 

THROUGH EUROPE AND THE EAST, DURING THE YEARS 1824 to 1840. Trans- 
lated by William HowiTT. Fcap. Svo, with Portrait (pub. at 64.), cloth, 3*. M. 184* 

riOWITTS (WILLIAM) GERMAN EXPERIENCES. Addressed to the English, both 
Goers abroad and Stayers at Home. 1 vol. fcap. Svo (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 3*. 6d. 1844 

JANE'S (EMMA) ALICE CUNNINGHAME, or, the Christian as Daughter, SUter, Friend, 

and Wife. Post Svo (pub. at oj.), cloth, 2*. 6d. 1846 

JOE MILLER'S JEST-BOOK; being a Collection of the most excellent Bon Mots, BriHiant 
Jests, and Striking Anecdotes in the English Language. Complete in 1 thick and closely but 
elegantly printed vol. fcap. l2mo, Frontispiece (pub. at 4j.), cloth, 3/. 1840 

JERROLD'S (DOUGLAS) CAKES AND ALE, A Collection of humorous Tales and 
Sketches. 3 vols, post Svo wUk PUtes, by QsoASS CRiriKSBAirx (pub. ftt lii.), cloth 
fUt, l«. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY H. G. BOHN. 29 

LAST OF THE PLANTAGENETS, an Historical Narrative, illustrating the Public Events, 
and Domestic and Ecclesiastical Manners of the 15th and 16th Centuries. Fcap. 8vo, Tliird 
Edition (pub. at 7s. 6(1.}, cloth, 3*. 6d. 1839 

LEVERS ARTHUR OLEARY; HIS WANDERINGS AND PONDERINGS IN 

MANY LANDS. Edited by Harry Lorrequer. Cruikshank's New Illustrated Edition. 
Complete in 1 vol. 8vo (pub. at 12s.), cloth, 9«. 1S4S 

tOVER S LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND. Both Series. 2 vols. fcap. 8vo, 
Fourth Edition, embellished with Woodcuts, by Harvey (pub. at 15j.), cloth, 6». 6d. 18*7 

LOVER'S HANDY ANDY. A Tale of Irish Life. Medium 8vo. Third Edition, with 24 
characteristic Illustrations on Steel (pub. at 13s.), cloth, 7j. 6d. 1849 

LOVERS TREASURE TROVE; OR L. S. D. A Romantic Irish Tale of the last Cen- 
tury. Medium 8vo. Second Edition, with 26 characteristic Illustrations on Steel (pub. at 14».)» 
cloth, 9s. 1846 

MARRYAT'S (CART.) POOR JACK, Illustrated by 45 large and exquisitely beautiful 
Engravings on "Wood, after the masterly designs of Clarkson Stanfield, R.A. 1 handsome 
vol. royal 8vo (pub. at 14».), gilt cloth, 9s. 1850 

MARRYATS PIRATE AND THE THREE CUTTERS, 8vo, with 20 most splendid line 
Engravings, after Stanfield, Engraved on Steel by Charles Heath (originally pub. at 
li. 4s.), gilt cloth, 10*. 6d. 184D 

MILLER S GODFREY MALVERN, OR THE LIFE OF AN AUTHOR. By the 

Author of "Gideon Giles," " Boyston Gower," "Day in tlie Woods," &c. &c. 2 vols in 1, 
8vo, with 24 clever Illustrations by Phiz (pub. at 13j.), cloth, 6s. 6d. 1843 
■ "Tliis work lias a tone and an individuality wliich distinguish it from all others, and cannot 
be read without pleasure. Mr. Miller has the forms and colours of rustic life more completely 
under his control than any of his predecessors." — Athenieum. 

MITFORD'S (MISS) OUR VILL.AGE; complete in 2 vols, post 8vo, a Series of Rural Tales 
and Sketches. New Edition, beautiful Woodcuts, gilt cloth, 10s. 

PHANTASMAGORIA OF FUN, Edited and Illustrated by Alfred Crowquill. 2 vols, 
post 8vo, illustrations by Leech, Cruikshank, &c. (pub. at 18s.), cloth, 7s. 6rf. 1843 

PICTURES OF THE FRENCH. A Scries of Literary and Graphic Delineations of French 
Character. By Jules Janin, Balzac, Cormenin, and other celebrated French Authors. 
1 large vol. royal 8vo, Illustrated by upwards of 230 humorous and extremely clever Wood 
Engravings by distinguished Artists (pub. at \l. 5s.), cloth gilt, ins. 1840 
This book is extremely clever, both in the letter-press and plates, and has had an immense 
run in France, greater even than the Pickwick Papers in this country. 

POOLE'S COMIC SKETCH BOOK; OR, SKETCHES AND RECOLLECTIONS 

BY THE AUTHOR OF PAUL PRY. Second Edition, 2 vols., post 8vo., fine portrait, 
cloth gilt, with new comic ornaments (pub. at 18s.), 7s. 6rf. 1843 

SKETCHES FROM FLEMISH LIFE. By Hendrik Conscience. Square 12mo, 130 Wood 
Engravings (pub. at 6s.), cloth, 4s. 6d. 

TROLLOPE'S (MRS.) LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL ARMSTRONG, 

THE FACTORY BOY, medium 8vo, with 24 Steel Plates (pub. at 12s.), gilt cloth, 6s. 6d. 1840 

TROLLOPE'S (MRS.) JESSIE PHILLIPS. A Tale of the Present Day, medium 8vo, port, 
and 12 Steel Plates (pub. at 12j.), cloth gilt, 6s. Gd. I844 

UNIVERSAL SONGSTER, Illustrated by Cruikshaxk, being the largest collection of the 
best Songs in the English language (upwards of 5,000), 3 vols. 8vo, with 87 humorous En- 
gravings on Steel and Wood, by George CRimc shank, and 8 medallion Portraits (pub. at 
U. 16s.), cloth, 13s. 6d. 



3jubeni'le anU lElementarg ii3oo!ig, CHgmnastfcs, §rc. 

ALPHABET OF QUADRUPEDS, Illustrated by Figures selected from the works of the 

Old Masters, square 12mo, with 24 spirited Engravings after Berghem, Rembrandt, Cuyp, 
Paul Potter, &c. and with initial letters by Mr. Shavt, cloth, gilt edges (pub. at 4*. 6<<.), 3». 

the same, the plates coloured, gilt cloth, gilt edges (pub. at 7*. 6<i.) 5». 

CRABB'S (REV. G.) NEW PANTHEON, or Mythology of all Nations; especially for the 
Use of Schools and Young Persons ; with Questions for Examination on the Plan of Pinnock 
18mo, with 30 pleasing lithographs (pub. at 3s.), cloth, 2s. 184y 

CROWQUILL'S PICTORIAL GRAMMAR. ICmo, with 120 humorous illustrations (pub. 
at 5s. j, cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 6rf. 1844 

DRAPER'S JUVENILE NATURALIST, or Country Walks in Sprinjr. Summer Autumn, 
any Winter, square 12ino, with 80 beautifully executed Woodcuts (pubf at 7,™T) cloth ' 

6dg'6S} 4*, 6d. *1845 

ENCYCLOP/EDfA OF MANNERS AND ETIQUETTE, comprising an improved edition 
of Chesterfield's Advice to his Son on Men and Manners: and the Young Man's own Book; a 
Manual of Politeness, Intellectual Improvement, tod Moral Deportment, 24moh i'rontispiece,. 
cloth, gilt edges, 2». liu' 



30 



CzVTALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS 



EQUESTRIAN MANUAL FOR LADIES, by Fh^kx Howahd. Few. 8vo. upwards of sa 

beautiful Woodcuts (pub. at 4«.), gilt cloth, gilt edges, 2s. bw. ig^lj 

GAMMER GRETHELS FAIRY TALES AND POPULAR ^TORIES, translated from 
the German of Grimm (containing- 42 Fairy Tales), post Svo, numerous Woodcuts l<v Georrk 
Cruikshank (pub. at Is. 6d.), cloth giit m ' ,84" 

GOOD-NATURED BEAR, a Story for Chiiuren of all Ages, by R. H. Hokse. Square 8vo 
plates (pub. at ss.) cloth, 3s., or with the v^tes coloured, ix. jgjQ 

GRIMM'S TALES FROM EASTERN LANDS. Square 12ino, plates Cpub. at 5j.), clotb. 
3s. 6t/., or plates coloured, is. 6d. jg^y 

HALL'S (CAPTAIN BASIL) PATCHWORK, a New Spries of Frafrnients of Vovaees and 
Travels, Second Edition, 12mo, clnth, with the back very richly and appropriately irilt with 
patchwork devices (pub. at lo*.), 7#. 6d. r p ^^^^ 

HOLIDAY LIBRARY, Edited by William Hazlitt. Uniformly printed in 3 vols, plates 
(pub. at 19s. 6c/.), cloth, lOs. 6c/., or separatelv, viz:— Orphan of Waterloo, 3». 6t/ Holly 
Grange, Z$. Qd. Legends of Ruhezahl, and Fairy Tales, 34. 6(i. 1843 

HOWITT'S (WILLIAM) JACK OF THE MILL. 2 vols. l2mo (pub. at is..), cloth gilt, 
7*. ed. ,^44 

HOWITT'S (MARY) CHILD'S PICTURE AND VERSE BOOK, commonly called 
"Otto Speckter's Fable Book;" translated into Eugli'th Verse, with French and German 
Verses opposite, forming a Tii.^dott, square 12mo, with 100 large Wood Engravings (pub. at 
lOi. G(/. ), extra Turkey cloth, gilt edges, 5s. 1845 
This is one of the most elegant juvenile books ever produced, and has the novelty of being in 
three languages. 

LAMB'S TALES FROM SHAKSPEARE, designed principally for the use of Young Persons 
(written by Miss and Charles Lamb), Sixth Edition, embellished with 20 large and beautiful 
Woodcut Erigravings, from designs by Harvey, fcap. 8vo (pub. at 7s. 6(/.), cloth gilt, 5s. 1843 
" One of the most useful and agrepahle companions to the understanding of Shakspeare w hich 
have been produced. The youthful reader who is about to taste the charms of our great Bard, 
is strongly recommended to prepare himself by first reading these elegant tales."— QwurteWy 
Review. 

L, E. L. TRAITS AND TRIALS OF ElARLY LIFE. A Series of Tales addressed to 
Young People. By L. E. L. ( Miss LANnoif ). Fourth Edition, fcap. 8vo, with a beautiful 
Portrait Engraved ou Steel (pub. at 5».), gilt cloth, 3s. 1845 

LOUDON'S (MRS.; ENTERTAINING NATUR-ALIST, being popular Descriptions, 
Tales and Anecdotes of more than 5C() Animals, comprehending all the ftuadrupeds. Birds, 
Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, &c. of which a knowledge is indispensable in Polite Education; 
Illustrated by upwards of 500 beet-jtiful Woodcuts, by Bbwick, Harvey, Whimper, and 
others, post 8vo, gilt cloth, 7s. &d . 1850 

MARTIN AND WESTALLS PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE BIBLE, the letter- 
press by the Rev. Hobart Gaunter, 8vo, 144 extremely beautiful Wood Engravings liy the 
first Artists (including reduced copies of Martin's celebrated Pictures, Belshazzar's Feast, 
The Deluge, Fall of Nineveh, &c.), cluth gilt, gilt edges, reduced to 12*. Whole bound mor. 
richly gilt, gilt edges, 18s. 1846 
A most elegant present tO' young people. 

PARLEY'S (PETER) WONDERS OF HISTORY. S<iuare l6ino, numerous Woodcuts 

(pub. at 6s.), cloth, gilt edges, js. Grf. 1846 

PERCY TALES OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND; Stories of Camps and Battle-Fields, 
Wars, and Victories (modernized horn Holinshad, Froissart, and the other Chroniclers), 
2 vols, in 1, square l^mo. (Parley size.) Fourth Edition, considerably improved, completed 
to the present time, embellished with 16 exceedingly beautiful Wood Engravings (pub. at 3s. j, 
cloth gilt, giit edges, 5s. 1850 
This beautiful volume has enjoyed a large share of success, and deservedly. 

ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY FORESTEflS. By aTBPHBs Pehcy. Square l2mo, 

8 Illustrations by Gilbert (pub. at 5s.), clotb, 3s. od., or with coloured Plates, 5s. 1850 

STRICKLAND'S (MISS) EDWARD EVELYN, a Tale of the Rebellion of I74.'i: to which is 
added "The Peasant's Tale," by Jefferys Taylor, fcap. 8vo, 2 fine Plates- (puh. at 5*.^ 
cloth gilt, 2s. 6rf. 1849 
By the populartAuthor of the Lives of the Q,neens of England. 

TOMKIN'S BEAUTIES OF ENGLISH POETRY, selected for the Use of Youth, and 

designed to Inculcate the Practice of Virtue. Twentieth Edition, with considerable additions, 
royal ISmo, very elegantly printed, .with a beautiful Frontispiece after Habvey, elegant ijilt! 
edges, 3s. 6rf. 1847 

WOOD-NOTES FOR ALL SEASONS (OR THE POETRY OF BIRDS), a Series of 
Songs and Poems for Young People, contributed by Baruy Cor.vw all, W ohd.swdrtk,. 
Moore, Golbridqe, Campbell, Joanna Baillie, Eli-za Cook, Mahv H-Owitt, Mrs. 
Hemans, Hogg, Charlotte Smith, &c. fcap. 8vo, very prettily printed, with 15 beautiful 
Wood Engravings (pub. at 3s. dd.), cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 184S 

fOUTH'S (THE) HANDBOOK OF ENTERTAfNING KNOWLEDGE, in a Series of 
Janiiliar Conversations on the most interesting productions of Nature and Art, and on other 
Instructive Topics of Polite Education. By a Lady (Mrs. P-alli.sbr, the Sister of Caw«»i» 
Marryat), i voi^. fcap. Svo, Woodcuts (pub. at I5s.), clotbgilt, 6s. 18*4 
This is a very clever and instructive book, adapted to ihi capacities 0/ you ig people, on the 
j»lan of the Conversations ou Cheiuiair\, Mineralogy, Botauy, iir. 



PUBLISHED OR SOLD BT H. G. BOHN. 



31 



i^usi'c anil iilusi'cal 5igaor!is. 



THE MUSICAL LIBRARY. A Selection of the best Vocal and Instnunental Music, both 

English and Foreign. Edited by W. Aykton, Esq. of the Opera House. 8 vols, folio, com- 
prehending more than 400 pieces of Music, beautifully printed with metallic types (pub. at 
41. 4«.), sewed, li. lis. 6d. 
The Vocal and Instrumental may be had separately, each In 4 vols. 16«. 

MUSICAL CABINET AND HARMONIST. A Collection of Classical and Popular Vocal 
and Instrumental Music; comprising Selections from the best productions of all the Great 
Masters; English, Scotch, and Irish Melodies; vrith many of the National Airs of other 
Countries, emliracing Overtures, Marches, Rondos, duadriltes, Waltzes, and Sallopades; also 
Madrigals, Duets,. and Glees; the whole adapted either for the Voice, the Piano-forte, the 
Harp, or the Or^an; with Pieces occasionally for the Flute and Guitar, under the superin- 
tendence of an eminent Professor. 4 vols, small folio, comprehending more than 300 pieces of 
. Music, beautifully printed with metallic types (pub. at 21. 2s.), sewed, 16j. 

The great sale of the Musical Library, in consequence of its extremely low price, has induced 
the Advertiser to adopt the same plan of sellin}; the present caiiital selection. As the contents 
are quite different from the Musical Library, and the intrinsic merit of the selection is equal, 
the work will no doubt meet with similar success. 

MUSICAL GEM ; a Collection of 3no Modern Songs, Duets, Glees, &c. by the most celebrated 
Composers of the present day, adapted for the Voice, Flute, or Violin (edited by John Parry), 
3 vols, in 1, 8vo, with a beautifully engraved Title, and a very richly illuminated Frontispiece 
(pub. at II. \s.), cloth gilt, IOji. 6d. 1S41 
The above capital collection contains a great number of the best copjTlght pieces. Including 
■ome of the most popular songs of Braham, Bishop, Sic. It forms a moat attractive volume. 



i^ctiicme* feuraerg, ^natomp, CTfjcmistrp, 



BARTON AND CASTLE'S BRITISH FLORA MEDICA; Or, History of the Medicinal 
Plants of Great Britain, 2 vols. 8vo, upwards of 200 finely coloured figures of Plants (pub. at 
3i. 3j.), cloth, I/. 16>. 1845 
An exceedingly cheap, elegant, and valuable work, necessary to every medical practitioner. 

BATEMAN AND WILLANS DELINEATIONS OF CUTANEOUS DISEASES. 

4to, containing 72 Plates, beautifully and very accurately coloured under the superintendence 
of an eminent Professional Gentleman (Dr. Car.swell), (i)uh. at 12/. 12*.), half bound mor. 
U. 5s. 1840 
" Dr. Bateman's valuable work has done more to extend the knowledge of cutaneons diseases 
than any other that has ever appeared."— /;r. A. T. Thonipson. 

BEHR'S HAND-BOOK OF ANATOMY, by Birkett (Demonstrator at Guy's Hospital), 
thick 12mo, closely printed, cloth letteied (pub. at 1(H. CJ.), 3i. 6rf. 1846 

BOSTOCKS (DR.) SYSTEM OF PHYSIOLOGY, comprising a Complete View of the 
present state of the Science. 4th Edition, revised and corrected throughout, 8vo (900 pages), 
(pub. at U.), cloth, 8s. 1834 

BURNS'S PRINCIPLES OF MIDWIFERY, tenth and best edition, thick 8vo, cloth lettered, 
(pub. at 16s.), Of. 

CELSUS DE MEDICINA, Edited bv E. Mii.ligan, M.D. cum Indice coplosisslmo ex edit. 
Targae. Thick 8vo, Frontispiece (pub. at l(i«.), cloth, 9». 1831 
This is the very best edition of Celsus. It contains critical and medical notes, applicable to 
the practice of this country , a parallel Table of ancient and modern Medical terms, synonymes, 
weights, measures, &c. aiid, indeed, everything which can be useful to the Medical Student; 
together with a singularly extensive Index. 

HOPE'S MORBID ANATOMY, royal 8vo, with 48 highly finished coloured Plates, contain- 
ing 250 accurate Delineations of Cases in ev<>Ty known \ariety of Disease (pub. at 5/. 5*.), 
cl»th, 3/. 3*. 1834 

LAWRENCES LECTURES ON COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, 

ZOOLOGY, AND THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. New Edition, post 8vo, with a 
Frontiipiece of Portraits, engraved on Steel, and 12 Plates, cloth, as. 

LAWRENCE (W.) ON THE DISEASES OF THE EYE. Third Edition, revised and 
enlarged. 8vo (820 closely printed pages), (pub. at 1/. 4s.), cloth, 10«. Hd. liii 

LEY'S (DR.) ESSAY ON THE CROUP, 8vo, 5 Plates (pub. at 13*.), cloth, 3s. 6d. 1833 
LIFE OF SIR ASTLEY COOPER, interspersed with h-is Sketches of Distinguished Cha- 
racters, by Bransby Cooper. 2 vols. 8vo, witli fine Portrait, after Sir Thomas Lawrence 
{pub. at IL U.), cloth, lus. 6d. 1843 

NEW LONDON SURGICAL POCKET-BOOK,, thick roy^i! ismo (pub. at 12».), hf. bd. 6 . 

1844 



32 



CATALOGUE OF NEW BOOKS. 



NEW LONDON CHEMICAL POCKET-BOOK; adapted to the Daily use of the Student. 

royal 18mo, numerous Woodcuts (pub. at 7s. 6d.), hf. bd. it. 6ti. jg^J 

NEW LONDON MEDICAL POCKET-BOOK, including Pharmacy, Posologr. &e. roral 
18mo (pub. at 8j.), hf. bd. 34. 6d. li,44 

PARIS' (DR.), TREATISE ON DIET AND THE DIGESTIVE FUNCTIONS. 

Stb edition (pub. 12^.), cloth, St. 

PLUMBE'S PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE DISEASE OF THE SKIN. 

Fourth edition. Plates, thick 8vo (pub. at 11. It.), cloth, 6t. 6d. 

SINCLAIR'S (SIR JOHN) CODE OF HEALTH AND LONGEVITY; Sixth Edition, 
complete in 1 thick vol. 8V0, Portrait (pub. at I/.), cloth, 7». IMl 

SOUTHS DESCRIPTION OF THE BONES, together with their several connexionf 
with each other, and with the Muscles, specially adapted for Students in Anatomy, numerous 
Woodcuts, third edition, 12mo, cloth lettered (pub. at 7t.], 3i. 6d. 1837 

STEPHENSON'S MEDICAL ZOOLOGY AND MINERALOGY; including also «d 
account of the Animal and Mineral Poisons, 46 coloured Plate.s, royal ' mb. at 21. 24.), 
cloth, U. Is. 1838 

TYRRELL ON THE DISEASES OF THE EYE, being a Practical Work on their Treat- 
ment, Meilically, To])ically, and by Operation, by F. Tyrrell, Senior Surireon to the lloya] 
London Ophthalmic Hospital. 2 thick vols. 8vo," illustrated by 9 Plates, couuiniug upwards of 
60 finely colotued figures (pub. at 1/. 16s.), cloth, U. It. 1810 

WOODVILLE'S MEDICAL BOTANY. Third Edition, enlarged by Sur W. jACKSoit 

Hooker. 5 vols. 4to, with 310 Plates, Engraved by Sowerbv, most carefully coloured (pub. 
at 101. lOs.), half bound morocco, 5^ 5s. The Fifth, or Supplementary Volume, entirely by Sir 
W. J. Hooker, to complete the old Editions. 4to, 36 coloured Plates (pub. at2f. I2s.6d.), 
boards, U. lit. 6d. 1S32 



BRADLEY'S GEOMETRY, PERSPECTIVE, AND PROJECTION, for the use of 

Artists. 8 Plates and numerous Woodcuts (pub. at 7s.), cloth, 5*. I8M 

EUCLID'S SIX ELEMENTARY BOOKS, by Dr. Lardj-er, with an Explanatory Com- 
mentary, Geometrical Exercises, and a Treatise on Solid Geometry, 8to, Ninth Edition, 
cloth, 6s, 

EUCLID IN PARAGRAPHS: The Elements of Euclid, containing the first Six Books, and 
the first Twentv 4r.e Propositions of the Eleventh Book, 12mo, with the Planes shaded, (pub. 
at 6s.], cloth, 3s. C(i. Camb. 1815 

JAMIESON S MECHANICS FOR PRACTICAL MEN, including Treatises on the Com- 

posilion and Resolution of Forces; the Centre of Gravity; and the Mechanical Powers; illus- 
trated bv Examples and Designs. Fourth Edition, greatly improved, 8vo (pub. at 15».), 
cloth, Ti.'od. IS&O 
"A great m»«hanical treasure."— i)r. BirkUck, 



BOOKS PRINTED UNIFORM WITH THE STANDARD LIBRARY. 

i.. JOYCE'S SCIEI^IFIC DIALOGUES, enlarged by Piknock, for the Instruction an 
Entertainment or Young People. New and greatly improved and enlarged EdiUon, b 
William Pikkock, completed to the present state of knowledge (Coo pages), numerous 
Woodcuts, 5s. 

STURM'S MORNING COMMUNINGS WITH GOD, or Devotional Meditations for 
every Dav in the Year, 5s. 1847 

CHILLINGWORTH S RELIGION OF PROTESTANTS. 500 pp.3».6d. 

GARY'S TRANSLATION OF DANTE. (Upwards of 600 pages), extra blue cloth, with « 
richly gilt back, 7s. 6d. 1847 

MAXWELL'S VICTORIES OF THE BRITISH ARMIES, enlarged and improved, and 
brought down to the present time; several highly finished Steel Portraits, and a Frontispiece, 
extra gilt cloth, 7s. 6d. 18*7 

MICHELET'S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, translated oyC.Cocia, 
2 vols, in 1, 4». 

ROBINSON CRUSOE, including his further Adventures, with a Life of Defoe, &C. npwar** 

of 60 fine Woodcuts, from designs by Harvey and Whimper, St. 
STARLING'S (MISS) NOBLE DEEDS OF WOMAN, or Examples of Female Courage 
Fortitude, and Virtue, Third Edition, enlarged and improved, with two very beautiful Frontw- 

pieces, elegant in cloth, St. 



lOKBOi: rWJfXBD »T KARKISOlf Aim ii. kamm'i txxi. 



I 



